The California State Library’s Braille and Talking Book Library (BTBL) will host a spring volunteer recognition barbecue in the fragrance garden of Library and Courts II at 900 N Street in Sacramento from 12 noon to 1:30 pm on Thursday, May 22. State Librarian Susan Hildreth, and David Whittall, western network consultant for the Library of Congress National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, will attend the event.
Since the mid-1970s, BTBL volunteers have included narrators, monitors and reviewers for the California book narration program; inspectors who examine outgoing "talking books"; repair specialists for audiocassette players and other equipment; and readers of letters, documents, and other materials for the blind.
State Librarian Susan Hildreth says, “We are honored to celebrate the hard work of our BTBL volunteers who help countless Californians enjoy the world of books and information service.”
The BTBL has long served California’s sight-impaired citizens. The California State Library Board of Trustees established the BTBL (then called the Books for the Blind Division) in December 1904, and its first book was borrowed on June 13, 1905. By the 1930s, as one of the nation’s largest libraries for the blind, BTBL became an original depository for the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) which operates as part of the Library of Congress.
Through a national network of cooperating libraries, including the California State Library’s BTBL, the NLS administers a free library program for eligible borrowers in the United States by postage-free mail.
For more information about the BTBL or the May 22 event, please contact Janet Coles at (916) 657-3894 or email at jcoles@library.ca.gov.