The system is funded in part with a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services which administers the Library Services and Technology Act. Two 30-year-old recording booths are being converted to the Low Complexity Digital Mastering system (LCM) at a cost of about $44,000. One booth has been converted and the second will be changed next year. KDLA is an agency of the Kentucky Education Cabinet.
Virginia G. Fox, secretary of the Kentucky Education Cabinet, said the new technology is a milestone for the service which began in 1968 as the Kentucky Regional Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped.
"This technology will greatly improve the quality of the recordings that the Kentucky Talking Book Library provides its customers. The sound quality will be like going from listening to a phonograph record to a CD. Over the years, the library's recorded collection of both fiction and non-fiction Kentucky books have been in high demand so we anticipate that this technical upgrade will be very popular with our patrons," Secretary Fox said.
The Kentucky Talking Book Library is part of a nationwide network of cooperative libraries headed by the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS), a division of the Library of Congress that was established in 1931.
Currently, Kentucky Talking Book Library has nearly 1,400 Kentucky cassette books in its collection and has access to more than 46,000 titles provided by NLS. Only registered patrons who have been certified as physically unable to read print have access to the collection and the special equipment needed to listen to them. The books on tape and Braille books are sent through the mail at no cost to customers. Last year, 55 Kentucky books were requested by library patrons in other states and sent to them through the Interlibrary Loan program.
James A. Nelson, the state librarian and commissioner of KDLA, said "This is an important step forward for the Kentucky Talking Book Library because the majority of our patrons are senior citizens and this will improve the sound and clarity for them tremendously.
"The technology will allow us to edit sound recordings as easily as a (Microsoft) Word document because you can see the sound waves or patterns on the computer screen as you edit. It will save time and make the process more efficient because you can delete a mistake and insert a correction without having to re-record large sections," said Nelson.
NLS is currently developing a new digital talking book and player and our new system will be compatible with the NLS standard when it is complete in 2008. During this transition period, our new system will let us transfer digital recordings to cassette tapes for distribution and transfer older reel or cassette tapes to a digital file for easier sound editing, Nelson said.
The Kentucky Talking Book Library serves 111 Kentucky counties from its KDLA building in Frankfort. The Louisville Talking Book Library located in the Louisville Free Public Library serves people who live in Jefferson County. The Northern Kentucky Talking Book Library serves Boone, Kenton, Campbell, Carroll, Gallatin, Owen, Grant and Pendleton counties.
"The reel-to-reel system we are using was not cutting edging when we first got it 30 years ago so it's very exciting to be at the forefront of technology and to be able to offer our customers up-to-date services," said Nelson.
In 2005, 7,579 Kentucky cassette books and 108,917 NLS books were circulated to a readership of more than 3,500 people. Cassette book readers borrow an average of 50 cassette books a year, nine of which are recorded in the Kentucky Talking Book Library studios by volunteers. Currently, the top 25 most requested books consist of five NLS books and 20 Kentucky books. In addition, the Kentucky Talking Book Library offers a collection of 5,161 Braille books and 366 descriptive videos.
