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Here and There

edited by Cynthia G. Hawkins

The announcement of products and services in this column does not represent an endorsement by the American Council of the Blind, its officers, or staff. Listings are free of charge for the benefit of our readers. “The ACB E-Forum” cannot be held responsible for the reliability of the products and services mentioned. To submit items for this column, send a message to [email protected], or phone the national office at 1-800-424-8666, and leave a message in Sharon Lovering’s mailbox. Information must be received at least two months ahead of publication date.

National Braille Press 2023 Volunteer Awards

National Braille Press recently presented its 2023 Volunteer Awards. The 2023 Sue Ammeter Volunteer Award was given to Judy Steiner in appreciation and recognition of her volunteer service over the last year.

The 2023 Group Volunteer Award was given to the Richissin Family in recognition of their dedication to supporting literacy for blind children. The Richissin Family has participated in the annual Braille Across America Challenge and raised $47,000 over the past two years.

NLS Marks 100,000th Marrakesh Treaty Download

NLS recently marked a milestone with patrons’ 100,000th download of audio and braille materials acquired under the Marrakesh Treaty.

The Marrakesh Treaty has been a boon for NLS’s foreign-language collection. Since 2020, when the treaty was fully implemented in the U.S., NLS has added more than 5,300 books from treaty members. Nearly half are in English — mostly titles published in Canada, including some that weren’t previously available in the U.S. About one-fourth are in Spanish. Twenty-five other languages are also represented.

Much of the cross-border sharing of books is done through the Accessible Books Consortium (ABC) Global Book Service online catalog. Libraries serving people who are blind can search the catalog to find accessible digital books from all over the world. NLS has uploaded more than 191,000 items to the ABC Global Book Service — mostly audiobooks, but also braille books and music materials. They have been downloaded more than 5,000 times in 47 countries since 2020.

Books and More from NBP

National Braille Press has a wide variety of books available, along with other useful educational tools.

Love to cook? There’s a number of cookbooks available. All of the below are available in hard-copy braille as well as BRF.

If you’re looking to organize your cupboards and/or pantry, take a look at the Can-do kitchen labels:

NBP also has a number of technology-focused books and reference cards, including the iOS 16 Reference Card; “Capturing and Sharing the World: Taking Photos and Videos with an iPhone,” “Mac Basics for the Beginning User,” “Remote Meeting Platforms: Work and Play from Anywhere,” and much more.

New in children’s books is “Rock-A-Bye, Forest,” by Hannah Eliot and Chie Boyd. This book is for babies to age 3. It’s available in UEB, and set to tune of “Rock-a-Bye, Baby.” The cover is a touch-and-feel hardcover.

Also new are “Creepy Crayon,” by Aaron Reynolds and Peter Brown, and “Interrupting Chicken: Cookies for Breakfast,” by David Ezra Stein. Both are available in UEB for ages 4–7.

NBP also has some useful items for teachers and the classroom, including the Louis Braille Classroom Set; “Just Enough to Know Better: A Braille Primer” by Eileen Curran; “Braille Spelling Dictionary”; “Best Practices in Creating Tactile Graphics: Making Tactile Graphics for Your Child or Student,” by Tammy Resiman; and much more.

For more information, call toll-free (800) 548-7323 or (617) 266-6160 ext. 520, or order online at shop.nbp.org.