New Jersey State Library

The New Jersey State Library is pleased to announce the appointment of Adam Stephen Szczepaniak, Jr. as Director of the New Jersey Library for the Blind and Handicapped. Szczepaniak has been serving as the library’s assistant director for the past year.

Prior to this, Szczepaniak served as librarian for the Maryland State Dept. of Education for seven years. He has held positions at the University of Maryland, the University of Alabama, the State University of New York, Johns Hopkins University, and the U.S. Army’s General Samuel Wood Scientific Technical Library. He holds a Master of Library and Information Science degree from the University of Maryland. He is a member of the American Library Association and the Library Administration and Management Association, and has had numerous articles published in the Maryland Medical Journal.

Kids love pets – dogs, rabbits, cats, hamsters – and they all want one, but what do you say to a child who may not be able to have a pet or care for one because of allergies, disability or living situation? Thanks to Nintendog, the answer to “Can I have a puppy?” can now be “yes.”
At the May 13 American Sign Language Story Hour at the Library for the Blind and Handicapped “virtual dog” programs given to the Marie H. Katzenbach School for the Deaf (MKSD) and the Hunterdon County Educational Services Commission (ESC) School. Full story

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• Staff members from LBH were on hand at the Trustee Institute to demonstrate assistive technology software and devices to help people who are blind and visually impaired. LBH staff is available to present a variety of informational programs in cooperation with public libraries throughout New Jersey.

• At the end of July, LBH hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony to open the Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired Regional Technical Assistance Center located at the Library for the Blind and Handicapped. This state-of-the-art technical center is equipped with the latest in assistive technologies. This joint project of NJLBH and CBVI received additional funding in a technology grant from Comcast Foundation. As a result of the Comcast grant for $20,000, the lab is equipped with an interactive smart board, a handheld CCTV and a new generation Brailler.

• LBH completed a second year in its partnership with the TCNJ Workskills Program. We offered a variety of work opportunities to teens with multiple disabilities. Students reported to work at LBH and under the guidance of job coaches, rewound tapes, checked in books, opened boxes of Braille books and sorted returned books into bins for re-shelving.

• On June 29, News12 kicked off its new On the Road series by featuring the New Jersey Library for the Blind and Handicapped. Anchorman Tony Caputo taped three segments at LBH headquarters in Trenton, which aired live and included interviews with LBH Director Faith Lundgren and other staff members. Customers, volunteers, services and the outreach efforts of the library were featured in different segments. Just a few hours after the broadcast, a Readers Services Advisor reported receiving the first call from someone wanting to register who had just heard the program.

• LBH continues to meet and plan with NJN, our broadcast carrier of Audiovision, to address needs and concerns about the transition of television broadcasting to a digital format in 2007. This change will necessitate that new receivers be provided to Audiovision customers so that they may continue to receive the LBH 24 hour radio programming.

• NJLBH sponsored the 4th Annual Disability Law Conference held in conjunction with the Office of the Attorney General, New Jersey division on Civil Rights. This year the focus of the conference was “Protecting the Rights of People Who are Blind or Visually Impaired.”

• NJLBH staff organized a joint presentation with the Norma F. Krajczar Technology Resource & Development Center and Lifelinks Video Relay Service for the NJLA Special Populations Section “Use Assistive Technology to Help Your customers See and Hear.” LBH presented information on the Vision Van, the Assistive Technology Loan Program including assistive listening devices. A representative of the Technology Resource Development Center elaborated about the resources of their demonstration center for assistive technology and a representative of LifeLinks Video Relay Service discussed their offer of free video phones for VRS service to public libraries.

• At the May 15 ASL Story Hour at NJLBH, a representative of the Trenton Thunder, read “Casey at the Bat” while mascot Boomer acted out parts of the poem. Boomer gave an autographed copy of “Casey at the Bat” to the Marie Katzenbach School for the Deaf.