Library for the Blind Celebrates "Year of the Young Reader"

Library for the Blind Celebrates "Year of the Young Reader"

Future Reflections Fall 1989, Vol. 8 No. 3
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LIBRARY FOR THE BLIND CELEBRATES
"YEAR OF THE YOUNG READER"
[PICTURE] At the NLS "Year of the Young Reader" kickoff event, Barbara
Cheadle, President of the Parents of Blind Children
Division of the National Federation of the Blind, speaks
enthusiastically of the many doors literacy can open for
blind children.
From the Editor: On January 26,1989,I had the
opportunity to participate in an important, and fun, occasion. 1989 has been declared by Congress
as the "Year of the Young Reader." In
celebration of that event, the National Library Service for the Blind is distributing Braille/print
library (readers') cards to young blind readers all over the country. Distribution of those cards began at the January 26 kickoff event. The story,
as published in the National Library Services for the Blind and Physically Handicapped newsletter, NEWS, is reprinted below. But first, a comment
about the significance of the event.
A library card (or reader's card) from the library for the blind really has no practical value. Once
you are registered for the service you need only
call or write in your requests, and the books are
mailed to you. There is some "walk-in" service in
the regional libraries, but even for this a card is
not needed. The importance of the project, then,
is very much in the symbolism of the library card,
in the spirit in which the endeavor is being carried
out, and in the fact that NLS consulted the
National Federation of the Blind (the consumers)
before going forward with the project.
Given this spirit of respect for the consumer, the
reader's card really does mean something. Symbolically,
the library card tells our blind children
that they stand in the same relationship to the
library for the blind as sighted children do to their
local library. They are not charity cases. They are
library patrons. Patrons with rights and responsibilities.
The library card can be for them, as it
for sighted children, a key; a key to knowledge,
power, opportunity, and equality.
Here is the article from the NEWS.
YOUNG PATRONS CELEBRATE
BOOKS AND READING
NLS has launched a nationwide salute to "1989-- The Year of the Young Reader" to honor the
program's more than 20,000 young people who
will be reached individually and through local
events across the nation during 1989.
In a kickoff event on January 26,1989, sixty blind
and physically handicapped schoolchildren from the Washington, D.C., and Baltimore,
Maryland, areas received colorful print and
Braille readers' cards to show that they are users
of the free Library of Congress Braille and talking-book
program.
"This personal reader card reaffirms our nation's
goals for all young readers, as stated by President
Ronald Reagan and the Congress in passing
Public Law 100-162, proclaiming 1989 as the
Year of the Young Reader," Frank Kurt Cylke,
director of NLS, said.
The event marked the beginning of the national
distribution of readers' cards to all participants
in the NLS program who are age fourteen or
younger.
Barbara Cheadle, president, Parents' Division,
National Federation of the Blind, stressed during
introductory remarks the importance of reading
in the lives of children and the role Braille and
audio books play in unlocking the door to literacy
for blind and physically handicapped children.
The program at NLS headquarters featured critically
acclaimed children's writer Eloise Greenfield
and "The Kids on the Block," a troupe of
puppets portraying disabled and non-disabled
children.
Ms. Greenfield, in addressing the topic "Why I
write for children," spoke of her love for words
and her desire to "give children words to grow
on." She then served a treat of love and words
with a poetry reading that included the electrifying
"Harriet Tubman" from Honey, I Love (RC
16054) and selections from her latest books Nathaniel Talking and Under the Sunday Tree (both in process as cassettes).
"The Kids on the Block" puppet troupe magically
came to life in a spellbinding performance. The
script, written by founder Barbara Aiello just for this occasion, introduced to the nation
readers' cards now being distributed to me
than 20,000 young readers in the NLS network.
The children participated actively in both segments of the program, reciting along with Ms.
Greenfield and interacting with the puppets.
The reader-card project marks the culmination
of a year-long effort by an interdisciplinary
children's outreach committee formed from NLS
staff members to develop and enhance services
to children who read materials in special formats.
Other materials developed in the past year include
a variety of resources for parent, public
librarians, NLS network librarians, and other
professionals.
The committee chairperson is Charlynn Spencer
Pyne, children's librarian, Collections Development
Section. Committee members include
Margaret Cytron, assistant head, Publications
and Media Section; Judith Dixon, head, Consumer
Relations Section; Robert Fistick, head,
Publications and Media Section; Michael
Moodie, assistant head, Production Control Section;
Ruth Nussbaum, reference librarian,
Reference Section; Miriam Pace, assistant chief,
Materials Development Division; and Steve
Prine, network consultant, Network Services
Section. Special assistance was provided by Freddie
Peaco, volunteer/consumer specialist, Consumer
Relations Section.
[PICTURE] The special performance by the Kids On
The Block puppet troupe was a big hit
with everyone.
Charlynn Pyne, NLS children's librarian, distributes readers' cards
to young library patrons .
[PICTURE] Nicole Fincham, a young patron from the Baltimore City school district,
beams as she receives her reader's card from NLS staff member,
Mary Levering.
Kids On The Block puppets, and poetry by
Eloise Greenfield, noted children's author,
kept the children enthralled at the NLS Year of
the Young Reader kickoff event.
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