Search the Blog
Categories
- Books & Reading
- Broadband Buzz
- Census
- Education & Training
- General
- Grants
- Information Resources
- Library Management
- Nebraska Center for the Book
- Nebraska Memories
- Now hiring @ your library
- Preservation
- Pretty Sweet Tech
- Programming
- Public Library Boards of Trustees
- Public Relations
- Talking Book & Braille Service (TBBS)
- Technology
- Uncategorized
- What's Up Doc / Govdocs
- Youth Services
Archives
Subscribe
Tag Archives: Talking Books
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
NLC Staff: Meet Matt Hier

Questions and Answers with NLC’s Audio Production Studio Manager, Matt Hier. He started working with the NLC in our Talking Book & Braille Department in October 2019. Take a few minutes and get to know him better with a few fun questions!
What was the last thing you googled?
I was unfamiliar with shoepeg corn that appeared in a recipe
What’s your ideal vacation?
Traveling to cities – New York, Chicago, and Seattle are my favorites
What do you do to relax?
Curl up with a cup of coffee and a good book
Describe your first car?
Red 1989 Ford Probe
If I weren’t working in a library, I’d be …
Working in a radio station
What was the first concert you remember attending?
Sweet 98’s Sweetstock at Westfair Amphitheater in Council Bluffs
What movie can you watch over and over again?
Back to the Future
What was the last book you read?
Normal People by Sally Rooney
What was the last movie you watched?
The Matrix
What is a quote you live by?
“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
Three words that describe you?
Reserved, hardworking, and empathetic
What smell brings back great memories?
Scents of fall: apple cider, caramel corn at a pumpkin patch, cinnamon
If you could have one superpower what would it be?
To fly
What’s the last thing you do before you got to bed?
Read
If you had a warning label, what would it say?
Less cranky than appears
Do you have any tattoos?
No, I’m not opposed to them but I am indecisive and would almost certainly regret my decision
What is your favorite comfort food?
Mac and cheese
What words or phrases do you overuse?
Fantastic
On what occasion do you lie?
Only when it will hurt someone’s feelings if I tell the truth and it does not matter
Do you love or hate rollercoasters?
I love theme parks but not giant rollercoasters
Do you have any pets?
No
What is your guilty pleasure?
80’s pop music
Favorite technology you could not live without?
Streaming television shows and movies
If you could get rid of one holiday – which one would you abolish?
4th of July because I don’t like loud noises
If you could only eat one kind of food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Italian food
If you could call anyone in the world and have a one-hour conversation, who would you call?
Michael J. Fox
What do you get every time you go to the grocery store?
Frozen pizza
NLC Staff: Meet Holly Atterbury

Questions and Answers with NLC Reader’s Advisor, Holly Atterbury. She started working with the NLC in our Talking Book & Braille Department in August 2018. Take a few minutes and get to know her better with a few fun questions!
Last thing you googled?
Nebraska Primary
What’s your ideal vacation?
Driving up the Pacific West Coast Highway in Oregon, staying in cabins in state parks.
What do you do to relax?
Embroidery – right now working on something my grandmother started to give to my mom for her upcoming birthday.
If I weren’t working in a library, I’d be …
in school to become a professor teaching Creative Writing
What movie you can watch over and over again?
Mad Max: Fury Road
What was the last book you read?
Underland by Robert Macfarlane
What was the last movie you watched?
The Half of It
Three words that describe you?
Funny, charismatic, and interesting
What smell brings back great memories?
An early summer morning with dew on the grass and a cool breeze – this reminds me of my childhood
If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
Shapeshifting
What’s the last thing you do before you go to bed?
Pet my cats
If you had a warning label, what would it say?
Caution – may contain many tangents
Do you have any tattoos?
Not yet
What is your favorite comfort food when you’re sick?
Chicken noodle soup
What’s your most treasured possession?
I love my 1988 Ford Ranger truck with almost 400,000 miles on it (the engine was rebuilt!).
What posters did you have on your wall as a kid?
Art posters of dragons, dolphins, and wolves
Do you love or hate rollercoasters?
I have a love/hate relationship with roller coasters – because I almost passed out on a roller coaster once
Do you have any pets?
Two cats – Bourbon and Edgar
What is your guilty pleasure?
Reality TV dating shows
Favorite technology you could not live without?
My cell phone
If you could get rid of one holiday, which one would you abolish?
Arbor Day and Columbus Day
If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Oreo Milkshakes
What do you get every time you go to the grocery store?
Cheese
#BookFaceFriday “Let’s Be Reasonable”
This is a #BookFaceFriday to make Grant Wood proud.
Is there anything more iconic Midwestern than American Gothic? We got the chance to create our own with this week’s #BookFace selection “Let’s Be Reasonable” by Joel Sartore (Unversity of Nebraska Press, 2011). That’s the Nebraska photographer/author himself on the book cover with his wife Kathy. If you’re not familiar with this book of short essays and photography, you should really change that. It’s a must read.
“For this collection of essays and images, photojournalist Santore drew on various subjects encountered in his travels on assignment for CBS Sunday Morning and National Geographic magazine. By turns quirky, candid, whimsical and moving, they cover a wide range of topics, including endangered species, the power of laughter, state-fair food, mud, money, conspicuous consumption, and his own life and family at home in Nebraska.”—Neil Pond, American Profile(Neil Pond American Profile 2011-09-05)
We pulled this from our Talking Book & Braille (TBBS) collection. It was recorded by NLC in 2016, and narrated by Alice Timm. It’s a part of our collection of Nebraska books and publications made available to Nebraska TBBS customers. It was recently added to TBBS’s Duplication on Demand service. You can learn all about the new Duplication on Demand service in next week’s episode of NCompass Live: Talking Books and Duplication on Demand!
Imagine if there were no books on your library shelves, and instead books were custom-made for every patron, printed and conveniently bound together during their visit. Something along those lines is being implemented with the digital talking books circulated at the Nebraska Library Commission Talking Book and Braille Service. Tune in to find out about the technology behind this change, and its advantages and disadvantages for patrons and staff as we begin this adventure together!
Join Scott Scholz, Director of our Talking Book and Braille Service, and Christa Porter next Wednesday, Dec. 26th at 10:00 am Central Time. Register here!
Scott also happens to be one of this week’s #BookFace models!
Love this #BookFace & reading? We suggest checking out all the titles available for book clubs at http://nlc.nebraska.gov/ref/bookclub. Check out our past #BookFaceFriday photos on the Nebraska Library Commission’s Facebook page!
Talking Book & Braille Service Volunteer Celebration
The Nebraska Library Commission’s Talking Book and Braille Service celebrated the work of our volunteers at a luncheon on April 18, 2018. Volunteers are indispensable in serving Nebraskans who use Talking Books. Of the 35 active volunteers, many record magazines and books of regional interest. Others prepare national books for check out.
The Nebraska Library Commission’s Talking Book and Braille Service thanks all the volunteers who play an integral part in serving Nebraskans with disabilities. We provide free audio books and magazines and braille reading materials. Nebraskans receive reading selections through the mail or digital download. The service is available to individuals with a visual or physical condition, or a reading disability, which limits the use of regular print.
Nebraska Library Commission Director Rod Wagner presented a special recognition to three volunteers:
- Norman Simon started volunteering with Talking Book and Braille Service shortly after 9-11. He began as a narrator, went through training, and became a producer in the recording studios. During the volunteer luncheon on April 18, 2018, Rod Wagner presented Norman an Admiralship in the Great Navy of the State of Nebraska in appreciation of 15 years as a volunteer with us.
- Jane Hood was recognized for five years as a volunteer narrator.
- Amy Eidenmiller’s graduation from Doane University was also celebrated. At Talking Books, she prepares a variety of materials for mailing.
For more information, see http://nlc.nebraska.gov/tbbs/. To volunteer, contact Annette Hall, Volunteer Services Coordinator, 402-471-4033, 800-742-7691, email.