Did you know that March 2nd is Read Across America Day and Dr. Seuss' birthday? In 1998 the National Education Association began celebrating Read Across America Day as a way to motivate youth to read. This year the National Federation of the Blind is excited to announce that they are joining in this celebration of the importance of literacy for all children. The NFB is asking you to celebrate by reading Dr Seuss! You can find online versions of Dr. Seuss books to download in Braille at Bookshare or on Web-Braille and you can find actual Braille books at Seedlings or National Braille Press. Post about your reading on Facebook and Twitter using the hashtags #Braille and #neara12 (that stands for National Education Association Read across America 2012). You can even send in a video of your child reading Braille or show how you celebrated Dr. Seuss’ birthday. The NFB will choose some favorites and those will be posted on the NFB's Facebook page, the NFB’s YouTube page, and tweeted by the NFB_Voice.

The next Michigan Commission for the Blind Braille and Talking Book Library Book Club meeting will be held on March 10 at 1:30 p.m. in Lansing at the Library of Michigan in the BTBL public service area located on the first floor across from the elevators. This month's book is One for the Money by Janet Evanovich, DB/RC 40224. The meeting can be attended in person or via the OPAL online meeting room. The meeting site is accessible. Individuals attending the meeting are requested to refrain from using heavily scented personal care products in order to enhance accessibility for everyone. People with disabilities requiring additional accommodations (such as materials in alternative format) in order to participate in the meeting, or those seeking more information, should call Scott Norris at (517) 373-5516 at least five business days prior to the meeting.

Eligible patrons can now download bibles from Audio Bibles for the Blind, a division of Aurora Ministries. Certification is required by completing and submitting this form. If you do not have a computer to download books to, remember our Assistive Technology Lab is here for you along with technical support.

Join service and housing providers from across the community as they discuss the current state of homelessness in Washtenaw County, the innovative partnerships that have been created to address the need, and the next steps needed to end homelessness in our community.

The Washtenaw Housing Alliance (WHA) is a unique coalition of 28 non-profit organizations that serve those experiencing or are at risk of homelessness. The WHA and its member agencies have created a collaboration that harnesses the commitment, energy and resources of a major hospital system, the cities of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, Washtenaw County, three major institutions of higher education, the private sector and the community at large to end homelessness in Washtenaw County. Join us Monday February 13, 2012: 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm in the Downtown Library Multi-Purpose Room.

The National Library Service is pleased to announce that starting this Monday, January 30th, books will be added to BARD as soon as they pass a quality assurance screening. This means you can expect to see new books several times a week.

To check for new books, do the following:

1. Go to BARD
2. Log into your account.
3. Follow the Recently Added Books link. This is a level 3 heading.

Books are arranged by their date of addition to BARD, with the newest first, under headings that show the date when they were added. Each date is a level 2 heading, so with most screen readers you can easily move from date to date. Book titles are level 4 headings.

Happy Reading!

Terri Wilcox is Secretary for the National Federation of the Blind of Michigan. A goal of this 50 state organization is to increase literacy among the blind, and that means Braille. Braille is literacy for the blind just as reading print constitutes literacy for sighted people. Yet only ten percent of blind children are currently being taught Braille. Join Terri at the Downtown Library on Sat., Jan. 14, 3:30 pm – 5:00 pm to learn more about this initiative and the many other ways she is working to level the playing field for everyone in Michigan.

Join the Living with Low Vision group each month at the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center. Each meeting features a guest speaker or an activity for individuals with low vision. The group meets on the second Wednesday of each month from 2pm to 4pm. The next meeting is January 10th. If you have questions, contact Gale Oren at (734) 763-9468 or goren@umich.edu.

How about doing us a big favor, as well as a favor for many of our patrons who benefit from watching films with Descriptive Video Service? Check the language settings at the beginning of the DVD menu to see if there is a described narration track, or see if it says "Described Narration" on the label. Then, add a comment to this blog indicating the name of the DVD & I will add it if it's not already on this list. Described narration can be on both youth & adult DVDs. More and more films are being produced with this feature. Some of these DVDs are now available by mail to our WLBPD patrons, too!

Hope Clinic, located at 518 Harriet St. in Ypsilanti, will be serving free hot meals from 4-5pm on all of the following days: Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve, and New Year’s Day.

Faith in Action and Our Savior Lutheran Church are sponsoring a Community Christmas Day Dinner at 1515 S. Main St. (next door to the McDonald's) in Chelsea. Dinner begins at 1pm and is open to anyone who would like to attend. To get on the headcount list, call 734-475-3305. Salads, desserts, and volunteers needed.

This list of Greatest Inventions for Physically Impaired people came to our attention from Best Online Colleges.com. Is there anything you would add or remove? With technology changing so quickly, it would be great to elicit input from you, our patrons! Their website is worth a gander if you are looking for on-line higher education programs, too.