Alaska State Library > Talking Books Party
Patrons Celebrate 80th Anniversary of Library for the Blind
Forty patrons joined the staff of the State Library’s Talking Book Center in Anchorage on Tuesday, March 22 to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. Patrons enjoyed cake and punch and viewed a display of old and new playback equipment used in the program, including a red record player, a mustard yellow cassette tape player, and a charcoal gray digital talking book machine. Staff handed out flash drives imprinted with the Talking Book Center logo to patrons who want to download books on their computers, then play the books on their digital talking book machine.
Richard Svobodny, a patron of the program since he was in third grade and a deputy attorney with the Alaska Dept. of Law’s Criminal Division, talked about the impact of this program on his life. He described how audiobooks opened his mind and took him places he never thought he would go both personally and professionally. Leon Hickok, a retired science teacher from the Anchorage School District, told how a reading teacher at Dimond High School tested him, determined that he was severely dyslexic, and urged Leon to get audiobooks through the Talking Book Center. Leon choked up as he stated that prior to starting service with this program, he had read three books for pleasure by the time he was fifty, but currently reads 100 audiobooks a year supplied by the Talking Book Center. Department of Education and Early Development Commissioner Michael Hanley stepped in from another meeting and listened to the remarks made by Richard and Leon.
On March 3, 1931, Congress passed the Pratt-Smoot Act, which created the National Library Service as a division of the Library of Congress. This federal-state partnership brings books on audio to Americans whose visual or physical disabilities prevent them from reading standard print. The National Library Service supplies the audiobooks and playback equipment and the state libraries across the country provide staff and space for the regional library that serves patrons in their state. In 1972, the Alaska State Library began operating its library for the blind and physically handicapped in Juneau as Alaska’s regional library. This program was subsequently moved to Anchorage and was renamed as the Alaska State Library Talking Book Center.
Look below for a couple of birthday party pictures.
Cake!
See the different formats of talking books over time.
Last updated April 1, 2011