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Category Archives: Talking Book & Braille Service (TBBS)
NCompass Live: New Technology for the Visually Impaired of Nebraska: Magnifiers and e-readers
Electronic video magnifiers and Braille e-readers will improve services to your blind and visually impaired patrons, and they are available via public libraries across the state. Learn about this equipment on next week’s NCompass Live webinar, on Wednesday, March 22 at 10am CT.
Erin Brandyberry and Mickie Saltzman, from the Nebraska Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired, and Pat Fischer from NanoPac, will talk about and demonstrate how to use equipment that will improve services to your blind and visually impaired patrons. Electronic video magnifiers were placed in Nebraska public libraries by the Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired and Braille e-readers are available to Nebraska patrons from the Talking Book and Braille Service (TBBS) at the Nebraska Library Commission.
Upcoming NCompass Live shows:
- March 29 – Pretty Sweet Tech: GrandPads: Creating Digital Connections for Older Adults
- April 5 – T(w)eens: Programming, Partnership, and Burnout
- April 12 – Art Show! Where Art and Science Meet to Bring the Community Together
- April 19 – Creative Aging Arts Program for Nebraska Libraries
- April 26 – Pretty Sweet Tech
- May 17 – Read the Rainbow: Serving the LGBTQ+ Community in Your Library
- May 24 – La Biblioteca Es Para Ti – Building Community Relationships in a Different Language
- May 31 – Pretty Sweet Tech: Bots for the Community!

For more information, to register for NCompass Live, or to listen to recordings of past events, go to the NCompass Live webpage.
NCompass Live is broadcast live every Wednesday from 10am – 11am Central Time. Convert to your time zone on the Official U.S. Time website. The show is presented online using the GoToWebinar online meeting service. Before you attend a session, please see the NLC Online Sessions webpage for detailed information about GoToWebinar, including system requirements, firewall permissions, and equipment requirements for computer speakers and microphones.
Posted in Education & Training, Talking Book & Braille Service (TBBS), Technology
Tagged NCompLive
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Happy World Braille Day!
Check out this story by KMTV on our braille e-reader and Talking Book and Braille services!
Nebraska Library Commission offers free use of braille e-reader
The device uses electronic displays to create braille letters. They are normally costly, but the Nebraska Library Commission’s talking book and braille service has them to use for free.
By: KMTV Staff
Posted at 5:31 PM, Jan 04, 2023
and last updated 8:21 AM, Jan 05, 2023
OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Wednesday was World Braille Day and the whole week is dedicated to visual impairments.
A braille e-reader is a digital device that can make a big difference for those who read braille. It translates words on a screen to braille and it’s free to access for Nebraskans.
“I can read a text message in braille, so braille itself hasn’t really changed,” said Mickie Saltzman, technology training associate for Outlook Enrichment. “The technology and the tools we use to access that braille has changed.”
The braille e-reader can be used on more than phones. It works with computers and tablets, too.
NCompass Live: Learning Opportunities and Resources from WebJunction
Come on a tour of WebJunction and learn how to build your library-specific knowledge, skills, and confidence on next week’s NCompass Live webinar on Wednesday, July 20 at 10am CT.
WebJunction provides a range of library-specific, online, and on-demand courses and webinars to help meet your continuing education needs. Whether you are looking to pick up a new skill, or to find inspiration for a new idea, these resources can help you take the first, or next step. With the support of the Nebraska Library Commission, all of the content, webinars and courses are free, and you’ll find topics ranging from customer service to organizational management to space planning. Join this session for a tour of WebJunction and to hear about these flexible and dynamic learning opportunities!
Presenter: Kendra Morgan, Senior Program Manager, WebJunction.
Upcoming NCompass Live shows:
- July 27 – Pretty Sweet Tech: CES 2022 and Libraries
- Aug. 3 – Building a Reading Community Through Podcasting
- Aug. 10 – Reinventing Programming Kits
- Aug. 24 – Team Up with your Community!
- Sept 7 – Retirement: Time to Ease on Down, Ease on Down the Road
For more information, to register for NCompass Live, or to listen to recordings of past events, go to the NCompass Live webpage.

NCompass Live is broadcast live every Wednesday from 10am – 11am Central Time. Convert to your time zone on the Official U.S. Time website. The show is presented online using the GoToWebinar online meeting service. Before you attend a session, please see the NLC Online Sessions webpage for detailed information about GoToWebinar, including system requirements, firewall permissions, and equipment requirements for computer speakers and microphones.
Posted in Books & Reading, Education & Training, Talking Book & Braille Service (TBBS)
Tagged NCompLive, TBBS
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NCompass Live: Talking Book and Braille Service: Continuously Evolving
Learn all about the NLC’s Talking Book and Braille Service on next week’s NCompass Live webinar on Wednesday, July 13 at 10am CT.
Join Gabe Kramer, Director of the Nebraska Library Commission’s Talking Book & Braille Service, to learn about the free audiobooks, audio magazines, and Braille available through the TBBS to individuals with a visual or physical condition, or a reading disability which limits use of regular print. We will take a look at the past, present, and future of the talking book program’s technology and services.
Upcoming NCompass Live shows:
- July 20 – Learning Opportunities and Resources from WebJunction
- July 27 – Pretty Sweet Tech: CES 2022 and Libraries
- Aug. 3 – Building a Reading Community Through Podcasting
- Aug. 10 – Reinventing Programming Kits
- Aug. 24 – Team Up with your Community!
- Sept 7 – Retirement: Time to Ease on Down, Ease on Down the Road
For more information, to register for NCompass Live, or to listen to recordings of past events, go to the NCompass Live webpage.

NCompass Live is broadcast live every Wednesday from 10am – 11am Central Time. Convert to your time zone on the Official U.S. Time website. The show is presented online using the GoToWebinar online meeting service. Before you attend a session, please see the NLC Online Sessions webpage for detailed information about GoToWebinar, including system requirements, firewall permissions, and equipment requirements for computer speakers and microphones.
Posted in Books & Reading, Education & Training, Talking Book & Braille Service (TBBS)
Tagged NCompLive, TBBS
Leave a comment
NLC Staff: Meet Eric Saxon
Questions and Answers with TBBS Studio & Book Circulation Support, Eric Saxon. He started working with NLC in May of 2021. Take a few minutes and get to know him better with a few fun questions!
What was the last thing you googled?
Looking up the pronunciation of Coccidiosis
What advice would you give your 21 year old self?
Make your money in the early side of life and retire early, as early as possible
What’s your ideal vacation?
Not too far away, not too close, and cheap
What do you do to relax?
Walk my dog
Describe your first car?
A royal blue 1993 Honda Civic
If I weren’t working in a library, I’d be…
Working in a museum or archives
What was the first concert you remember attending?
Social Distortion at the New Daisy Theatre in Memphis, TN
What movie can you watch over and over again?
This Is Spinal Tap
What was the last book you read?
The Unexpected Universe, by Loren Eiseley
What was the last movie you watched?
The Alpinist
What is your proudest handyman moment?
I fixed our dryer
What smell brings back great memories?
The smell of roasting jalapenos
If you could have one superpower what would it be?
The ability to stop time for the world while I can keep moving
What’s the last thing you do before you got to bed?
Text friends especially in other countries/time zones
Do you have any tattoos?
I have a pencil lead tattoo
What is your favorite comfort food?
Mashed potatoes
What words or phrases do you overuse?
Sounds good
On what occasion do you lie?
When I’m tired
What posters did you have on your wall as a kid?
Torn out pictures of insects, jewel beetles, and a No Bozos poster
Do you love or hate rollercoasters?
Love
Do you have any pets?
Yes – a Bernese mountain dog named Pepper
What is your guilty pleasure?
Throwing rocks through ice
Favorite technology you could not live without?
Running water
If you could get rid of one holiday – which one would you abolish?
National Mayonnaise Day
If you could only eat one kind of food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Granola
What do you get every time you go to the grocery store?
Fresh garlic
TBBS Volunteers Receive Award
Volunteers at Talking Book and Braille Service were chosen for Celebrate Literacy, 2021. The award was presented by the Nebraska State Literacy Association at their annual conference. This year the conference was online. Pictures of some of the volunteers were displayed during the ceremony.
We think the studio volunteers are super! They are very dedicated, and many have narrated for several years. Thank you Nebraska State Literacy Association for honoring them.

NLC Staff: Meet Amy Irons

Questions and Answers with Talking Book and Braille Circulation Technician, Amy Irons. She started working with the NLC in August of 2019. Take a few minutes and get to know her better with a few fun questions!
What was the last thing you googled?
Horse Creek Adventures
What advice would you give your 21 year old self?
It’s okay if you don’t have it figured out yet
What’s your ideal vacation?
Mountains and forest
What do you do to relax?
Art: paint, draw, sew, cross stitch
Describe your first car?
A 1987 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser Station Wagon with wood paneling. It was white and her name was Billy
What was the first concert you remember attending?
All for One at the Nebraska State Fair
What movie can you watch over and over again?
Sleepless in Seattle, While You Were Sleeping, The Princess Bride
What was the last book you read?
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
What was the last movie you watched?
Birds of Prey
What is your proudest handyman moment?
I installed ceiling fans
Three words that describe you?
Weird, silly, and kind
What smell brings back great memories?
Pine trees and Christmas
If you could have one superpower what would it be?
The power to heal
What’s the last thing you do before you got to bed?
Make the rounds in my house to make sure all the doors and windows are locked and then snuggle with my dog
Do you have any tattoos?
Yes – seven
What is your favorite comfort food when you are sick?
Miso soup
What words or phrases do you overuse?
She was not fragile like a flower, she was fragile like a bomb
What’s your most treasured possession?
My son – Bodhi – age 11
What posters did you have on your wall as a kid?
Lisa Frank’s unicorns and dolphins
Do you love or hate rollercoasters?
Love
Do you have any pets?
One fat unruly cat named Girl Girl and a dog named Cora who is the sweetest girl that ever lived.
What is your guilty pleasure?
Taco Bell
Favorite technology you could not live without?
The Internet
If you could get rid of one holiday – which one would you abolish?
Columbus Day
If you could only eat one kind of food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Sushi
If you could call anyone in the world and have a one-hour conversation, what would you call?
Lizzo
What do you get every time you go to the grocery store?
Mio