HourGLASS A newsletter for friends of the Georgia Library for Accessible Statewide Services Volume 5, Issue 3 - Summer 2018 www.georgialibraries.org/glass Perfecting Your Catalog Search When searching the catalog on our website, you sometimes get a lot more results than you bargain for. But we have a few tips to make it easier to find books, and books in series in particular. Readers who like to follow a series can quickly find all the books that are cataloged as being in a particular series. Start on the GLASS website at www.georgialibraries.org/glass and click on the link for “Catalog.” Then you can search using keywords that can help you find at least one book in the series. Keywords can be the author’s name, consecutive words from the title of a book in the series, or consecutive words from the series title. For the best results, if you’re searching for an author, write it in the form of last name followed by a comma, then first name. To make your title or series searches more precise, put titles or series titles in quotes. The books you want may be on the search results page. To see just the books in the series, however, find one of the titles from the series and select it. This opens a page with details about the book. Use your screen reader’s search command or otherwise look over the page to find the word “series.” Below that word is a link to the series. All the books in the series should be listed on that page, making it easy to download the ones you want. Please note that not all series are listed, and it’s possible that not all books from a series will be listed on the series page. However, series information should become more complete over time. Finally, if you can’t find a series or a book in a series, you can call your reader advisor and they will help you find your favorite series! Cool Tech: Braille Neue The blind braille reader hasn’t been able to read regular printed matter, just as an untrained sighted reader hasn’t understood braille. The high-tech era and mainstreaming of students with disabilities caused braille to lose ground to audible technologies in recent years. A new tool is now making it possible for sighted and visually impaired persons to read the same material. How is it possible? Braille dots are incorporated directly into the visible shapes of letters. Braille Neue font contains two typefaces: Braille Neue Standard, for the English alphabet, and Braille Neue Outline, which accommodates both Japanese and English visible characters. Braille readers can now “read” the combination print-and-dot font when it’s in large format. That means one signage will suit both people who are sighted and those who are blind. Latin and Japanese character versions are both available. Braille Neue may be going international soon. It is the aim of designer Kosuke Takahashi to use this universal typeface for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics in 2020 so all may access information. Photos by Kosuke Takahashi Find us on Facebook for events and news georgialibrariesglass Donate to GLASS georgialibraries.org/glass/donate BARD Time-outs for Inactive Accounts To enhance security of patron accounts and prevent misuse, the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) will be making a small update: Any patron account that has not been used in one year or more will be moved to an Inactive/Suspended status. Each day, BARD will check to see if a patron account was last used more than one year ago and will change the account status if necessary. Accounts can quickly be reactivated by contacting GLASS. To keep BARD from thinking your account is inactive, simply download a book now and then. There are plenty of great ones in there. Books About Fictional Legal Cases Note: Talking books begin with DB. Braille titles begin with BR. Wilde Lake: A Novel by Laura Lippman (DB84652, BR21517, On Bookshare) State’s attorney Lu Brant’s first case is the vicious murder by a homeless man of a woman in her apartment. Meanwhile, past incidents color the life of Lu and her older golden-boy brother. Strong language, descriptions of sex, and some violence. The Unquiet Grave: A Novel by Sharyn McCrumb (DB89436, On Bookshare) In 1930, attorney James Gardner is committed to a sanitarium, where he tells his doctor about one of his first cases -- a murder prosecution based on the testimony of a ghost. Dead Even by Brad Meltzer (DB46762, On Bookshare) Assistant prosecutor Sara Tate swipes a burglary case from a senior lawyer, hoping a high-profile legal victory will help her avoid a layoff. But then she learns that her husband, Jared, is representing the defendant. Both Sara and Jared are secretly warned that a loss in court will put their spouse in danger. Strong language and violence. Justice Denied by Robert Tanenbaum (DB81947, On Bookshare) As Roger “Butch” Karp is appointed Homicide Bureau chief for the NY DA’s office, he tries the case of a Turkish diplomat, gunned down in Manhattan. Strong language and some violence. BARD Mobile It’s fantastic to be able to download and listen to books whenever you want to. If you have a smartphone or tablet, you can do this with the free BARD Mobile app. Find more information and register for BARD at www.georgialibraries.org/bard or call your reader advisor for more information. Call 800-248-6701 to request this newsletter in alternate formats. Join our email list at: hourglass@georgialibraries.org HourGLASS is published quarterly by the Georgia Libraries for Accessible Statewide Services (GLASS), a division of Georgia Public Library Service, a unit of the University System of Georgia. This publication is made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services to Georgia Public Library Service under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act. Georgia Libraries for Accessible Statewide Services Toll Free: 1-800-248-6701 Fax: 404-657-1459 www.georgialibraries.org/glass