Library Collections: Document: Full Text

After a long series of negotiations requiring over a year, Harry Hopkins' name was finally placed upon the authorization of a Talking Book machine WPA project which was sponsored by the Library of Congress and supervised by the American Foundation for the Blind. Three hundred unemployed persons were put to work in New York City in February 1936. Of the three hundred more than fifty were blind. Chester C. Kleber, later General Manager of National Industries for the Blind, was placed in charge. It was a fortunate choice of management, because Kleber had a flair for handling difficult operations requiring the cooperation of government officials, common labor, technical men and the general public. On this project more than 20,000 Talking Book machines were manufactured. These machines, which were legally the property of the Library of Congress, were loaned free of charge to blind people to whom it would seem a burden to purchase a Talking Book machine. It was pointed out that few seeing people would use the public libraries if in order to do so they had to purchase a special pair of glasses costing $40.00. The Library of Congress was always liberal in its interpretation of need in this case.

In time, these WPA-made Talking Book machines gradually wore out. The Library of Congress then accepted the principle that free Talking Book library service called for free Talking Book machines. The WPA machines in time were replaced by new ones manufactured on a contract basis for the Library of Congress. About the only restriction which was placed upon the lending of Talking Book machines was that the borrower must be blind, under a definition of blindness prescribed by the Library of Congress, and also that the borrower must make a reasonable amount of use of the library.

At first the definition of blindness used by the Library of Congress was as follows, "Suffering from a defect of vision which makes it impossible or unsafe to read ordinary printed books." Later, as the demand for Talking Book machines greatly exceeded the supply, this definition was tightened up a bit, to coincide with the definition used in administering relief in most states by the social security agencies. The reading materials provided by the Library of Congress are now available for loan without charge to residents of the United States, its territories, and insular possessions whose central visual acuity is 20/200 or less in the better eye with correcting glasses or whose field of vision at its widest diameter subtends an angular distance no greater than 20 degrees.

This definition of blindness may be too narrow as it excludes a considerable number of people who, though they have some vision, are unable to make any practical use of inkprint books.

There has always been a certain amount of demand that Talking Book libraries be available to people with good sight who, because of physical conditions, are unable to hold an inkprint book in their hands, such as hopelessly crippled persons, invalids confined to their beds in such a way that they must lie constantly on their backs, etc. Several bills have been introduced into Congress which would open Talking Book libraries to such people. These bills have, to the date of writing, all failed for various reasons; first, the difficulty of defining who is eligible to use such books; second, the fear on the part of copyright owners that the privilege which they were willing to extend to the blind might be abused by persons who would be potential customers for inkprint books; and for other reasons, important among which is the fact that no one knows how many readers this might add to the already over-burdened staffs of the libraries for the blind.

How should the records be packed for mailing? This required more experimentation than the average person realizes. The container must be as light as possible and at the same time stand such rough handling as tossing from the top of a mail truck to the pavement and the like. Various kinds of sheet metal were experimented with but finally fibreboard with metal corners was selected. These boxes were strapped shut in much the same fashion as containers for laundry that are to be shipped through the mail. The depth of the box was determined with the convenience of the reader and the postman in mind. It was decided that a gross weight of fifteen pounds was about all that could be conveniently handled. This is probably too heavy for many elderly readers and advantage should, therefore, be taken of the present possibility of getting as much material on a thin ten-inch record as was formerly recorded on a twelve-inch record.

An economical method of marking records in braille had to be developed. Braille of the standard size was selected with a minimum of wording indicating title, author and reader. Indicating the reader is important because it has been shown that the choice between two titles is often made by the borrower on the basis of the reader. Some Talking Book readers are as popular among blind Talking Book users as are movie stars among the cinema goers. Blind visitors to the American Foundation for the Blind get a tremendous thrill out of meeting such popular readers as Alexander Scourby, John Knight, John Brewster, etc. The voices of these readers are as well-known in the homes of thousands of blind people as are the voices of their most intimate friends.