Libraries for the Blind and Print Disabled

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===== Southern Conference Resolutions: Newport, Rhode Island 2012 =====
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**Resolution:**  The Southern Conference of Librarians Serving the Blind and Physically Handicapped would like to thank the following:

  * Andrew Egan for graciously hosting the NLS conference in Newport\\

  * Mary Beth Wise and Joel Phillips of NLS for their hard work organizing a wonderful and informative conference\\

  * Ava Smith and Miles Lewis of Texas for organizing, creating and presenting the Preconference program: "Got Digital? Recording, Digitizing, Markup, and More!"\\

  * Pamela Brown (Virginia Beach, VA) for conceiving, organizing, and presenting the Southern Conference program "You Are Never Too Young: A Survey of Best Practices for Serving Children"\\

  * Ava Smith (Texas), Barbara Penegor (Kentucky), and Ed Byrne (Tennessee) for their work updating and revising the SCLBPH Constitutions and By-laws\\

  * Barbara Penegor (Kentucky) for her work as Chair of the Southern Conference\\

**NLS Response:**  NLS concurs.\\

**Resolution:**  The Southern Conference would like to extend a hearty and enthusiastic welcome to Karen Keninger for her appointment as Director of NLS, and we look forward to the network’s future under her direction.\\

**NLS Response:**  Thank you—I look forward to working with you in the coming years.\\

**Resolution:**  The Southern Conference would like to congratulate our former South Carolina colleague Pamela Davenport on her appointment as NLS Network Consultant, and we wish her all the best in her new position. \\

**NLS Response:**  Thank you it was a pleasure to be a part of the Southern Conference. I look forward to continue working with all of you toward our common goal of assuring that all may read. \\
 
**Resolution:**  The Southern Conference commends NLS for the work they have completed in converting the extensive retrospective RC collection from analog to digital format, and we encourage them to focus their efforts on the most popular authors—especially on completing series by such authors.\\

**NLS Response:** We expect to prioritize along these lines as we intensify conversion activities in the fall. The current plan is to digitize around six thousand titles a year until all usable analog books are converted. (Some titles in the catalog will be missing or damaged, and we will make case by case decisions about recreating the books. We expect to purge a small number of patently outdated materials such as discredited and potentially harmful medical advice and obsolete technical instruction—e.g., a book of tips on getting around in WordPerfect 4.0). The matter of incomplete series is far and away the most frequently encountered topic in patron comments that land on the big desk at CDS central, and we will address it as aggressively as our systems and Congress permit.\\

**Resolution:**  The Southern Conference greatly appreciates NLS support of the READS (Reader Enrollment and Delivery) automation system used by many small and medium-sized network libraries, and strongly recommends it continue such support.\\

**NLS Response:**  Thank you. NLS plans to continue support of READS for network libraries.\\

**Resolution:**  The Southern Conference commends NLS for its efforts to develop an app allowing patrons to use smart phones to access and/or read items from BARD, broadening the range of methods in which they may enjoy Talking Books, and allowing them to use the same devices popular with the general public.\\

**NLS Response:**  Thank you. NLS recognizes the value of leveraging mainstream technology wherever possible and believes the mobile device apps will be popular with patrons. The smartphone app design specifications are available at http://www.loc.gov/nls/specs/1100-2012.pdf.\\

**Resolution:**  The Southern Conference appreciates recent and continuing NLS marketing/outreach efforts targeting both special populations and the general public, and we recommend that NLS next direct its focus on recruiting children and young adults to the program.\\

**NLS Response:**  Thank you. Youths are one of the target audiences that NLS will address. The brochure [add name] addressing that audience has been updated and are available for network library use from the multistate centers. Two posters [add names] will soon be available from MSCs. Bookmarks and braille alphabet cards are also available from the multistate centers. Libraries may find these materials especially useful as students prepare to return to school.
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