The Many Layers of CT LAB

CT LAB, also known as the CT Library for Accessible Books, is a FREE service of the CT State Library in partnership with the National Library Service. CT residents who struggle to read a physical book due to visual, physical or reading disabilities can qualify for access to tools such as talking book players, refreshable Braille display machines, a catalog of thousands of books, magazines, and music scores, and so much more. Our guest today is….. Matt Geeza, a host of the show!! He takes Ashley and Kym through the application process, the technology, resources, and the variety of ways that CT LAB services can support CT readers! We’ll have an extra special “guest” make a vocal appearance, and Matt says it’s okay to increase the speed of talking books. Don’t let others lie to you.

What we’re reading:

The House on Vesper Sands By Paraic O’Donnell

There are Rivers in the Sky By Elif Shafak

When Women Were Dragons By Kelly Barnhill

Resource we mentioned:

CT Library for Accessible Books

The Palace Project App

National Library Service

All CT Reads

Credit:

“Wholesome”

Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/be/3.0/

The Connecticut State Library. Preserving the Past to Inform the Future!

Transcript

Kym Powe (00:05)
Welcome to Under the Charter Oak, a podcast of the Connecticut State Library where we preserve the past to inform the future. My name is Kym Powe. I am the Children and Young Adult Consultant

Ashley Sklar (00:15)
I'm Ashley Sklar, I'm the Adult Services and Community Engagement Consultant.

Matt Geeza (00:19)
And I'm Matt Geeza. I'm the director of the Connecticut Library for Accessible Books and the Middletown Library Service Center.

Kym Powe (00:27)
and there's kind of a fourth guest, but you know, we're gonna wait to do that later. It's complicated and equally beautiful. So we're gonna jump straight into what we've been reading. And Matt, what have you been reading?

Matt Geeza (00:42)
I have been reading a novel called The House on Vesper Sands by Paraic O'Donnell. He's an Irish writer. This is a gothic mystery with supernatural elements. There are three primary characters. There's Inspector Cutter, who's from Scotland Yard, course. Gideon Bliss, who's a Cambridge student, who's also sort of posing as Cutter's sergeant.

Then the third primary character is Octavia Hillingdon, and she is a journalist. the book starts, not giving anything away, it starts with a death of a seamstress, and they're kind of teaming up and investigating this death, which turns out is not the only death. 

So there's an ever-expanding sort of mystery here that sort of leads, you know, other deaths and disappearances that they're following up on. It's quite good, very well written. If you like that sort of gaslight mystery, highly recommend it.

Kym Powe (01:44)
Yes, I love a whodunit mystery situation. The fact that the first person to go out as a seamstress makes me sad though. As someone who once worked in costume, like no, leave us alone, we mind our own business. But I might have to add that to my own personal to be read list.

Matt Geeza (01:59)
Yeah, and just real quick that reminds me that is sort of book one and I think what's becoming a series book two just came out I think in 2025 which is called The Naming of the Birds and I immediately put a hold on that and I reserved a copy of that one because I've been enjoying The House on Vesper Sands so much.

Kym Powe (02:19)
Yeah, I might have to look for that now that to my TBR the never-ending TBR. Ashley what are you reading? What's being read to you?

Ashley Sklar (02:28)
Well, this is actually me reading. So I am reading one of our All CT Reads titles and also still the 800 page book, but I'm reading There are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak. And this was the book and I'm only maybe like four or five chapters in, but it all traces these set of stories through the lens of this drop of water. 

And so it talks a little bit about like, cause I was like, I remember when the committee brought this book and I was like, a drop of water, I don't get it. But it talks about, right, like a drop of water, right? It falls as rain, it takes its journey, maybe travels and through the rivers and then, you know, can be evaporated and go back up and become a raindrop again, right? 

So it's told over centuries and stories. And so of course I'm getting just, I'm in the early stages of getting these like, or different threads of where this water has landed and experienced from like 1840 to 2024. And so I'm going to see kind of like how it all spirals and swirls and comes together by the end of the book. 

But it's incredibly written, incredibly rich, descriptive, beautiful, beautiful prose. She has a way with language that is just amazing and dense and gorgeous. So I'm enjoying it. Yeah.

Kym Powe (03:51)
Wow, that's, the All CT Reads are always kind of on my list somewhere in the back of my mind. I'm always like two or three years behind on reading them, but get there, except for Don't Cry For Me, [crosstalk] because I had read that one first. So the irony is I'm also reading an All CT Reads, or I actually just finished reading an All CT Reads, but it was from like...Maybe 2023. 

So I just finished When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill. It's really good. And I was already familiar with Kelly Barnhill because this is her first adult book. When Women Were Dragons she normally writes like middle grade. So from the youth perspective, I was familiar with with her, but not that particular book. So I just finished it.

 And it's about like the main characters is character and she always says, like, if someone says Alexandra, she goes, it's Alex, like every single time. And she talks about, like the book takes place in the 50s, and she talks about this event that happened in 1955, where like all the women dragoned. So it's like the title, it's not a metaphor. Like these women are just turning into dragons. they're leaving their skin behind. 

And so in 1955, was like the time where like it happened to hundreds of women at the same time on the same day. And she's sort of talking about that experience because one of the people who dragon was her aunt, who was like her favorite person. So you kind of see what their experience is like post like the great dragonning, but you also find out that like dragonning has been happening since like the Vikings.

And what's really great is the story sort of bounces back and forth between Alex's story. And I believe she's maybe like four or eight or something like that when it starts and it ends when she's around college age. So you're able to see like her family dynamics, which are trash. And the sort of like concept of women dragonning has a lot to do with like misogyny and misogynoir and just kind of like the requests and the feelings and because it's like 1955, right? So this is post some war, World War II [crosstalk]. There you go. I took history class. When women had been working, they'd been in the factories, they had this autonomy and then the men came back and they were kind of like forced back into the kitchen, right? Like the aunt had been a pilot.

but then was sort of forced out of that into this nuclear family. you see Alex's, it's pretty much like a deterioration. For this poor girl, it just kind of gets horrible and horrible. And the concept of dragonning is something that you don't talk about. 

So in addition to her story, we also get...like newspaper articles, journals from a researcher of dragonning. And it's really interesting because at one point he's even like in front of Congress and he's like, guys are both, you are at the same time saying that the work that I've done on dragonning does not exist while also saying that the work that I've done on dragonning is like communism. So like, which is it? Like, does it exist? And you don't like it, does it not exist? 

So it actually ties really closely into what's happening today from sort of like a congressional perspective, right? And also just sort of from like a perspective of like women trying to exist, right? And it's really an amazing, there's so much to say. It was our book club book and we had a lot to talk about.  It's really, really good.

All CT Reads never misses. really don't. The books are always amazing.

Ashley Sklar (07:41)
Thank you, Connecticut librarians for all of their top picks for these All CT Reads titles, right?

Kym Powe (07:46)
And thank you Connecticut State Library, us, for coming up with the program in the first place. And thank you, wait, Iowa, for letting us do the program for you, right? Like, that's just a circle. It's a circle of help.

Ashley Sklar (07:52)
That is true.

Mm-hmm, it really is. I'm super intrigued by that book, Kym. And I also try to make a point of reading the adult titles, but I've only been doing that for the past few years before that I was just not as good at the reading with little kids. this is reminding me that I should go back now because I'm always reading the current year's titles. But yeah, that sounds like one worth going back to. Yeah.

Kym Powe (08:25)
Yes, yes it is indeed.

Matt Geeza (08:27)
Same. you were, Kym, when you were first telling me this about this book last week, it was like super intriguing. Yeah. Sounds fast.

Kym Powe (08:36)
I having these meetings with, I was telling some of the folks in the circulation office, and then Suzanne comes out and she goes, are you talking about When Women Were Dragons? And she's like, I read it. And I was like, yeah. Because I think I thought the book was going to be more sci-fi, like an island. I kind of thought it was going to be part.

Ashley Sklar (08:46)
She knew!

Ashley Sklar (08:55)
It sort of sounds right.

Kym Powe (09:00)
part like Xena warrior princess, like part like Wonder Woman, or Supergirl, Lord, I don't know. Like there's an island of women somewhere, right?

Matt Geeza (09:10)
Yeah, the Wonder Woman

Ashley Sklar (09:11)
I was like, I don't know.

Kym Powe (09:12)
No, there's an, I don't know either, but there, know there's an Island of women somewhere like being awesome. So I thought it was going to be part that part. then they like, I don't know, jump off a cliff and turn into a dragon. And like, like that's what I saw in my mind. And I'm like, 1955, I'm like, what? Like we're just out here talking about like sad housewives. Like what's happening? 

So I was, I was kind of, I, for a while it was a little hard for me to get into it because I walked in with this like subconscious preconceived notion of what I was going to read and got the polar opposite. Like I was ready for a good time. Like I wasn't I wasn't ready to talk about like the struggles of a womanhood. Yeah. But then there came a point and I was like, you know what? Like it just like there was just a pivot or like a point in the book where I was like, yeah. And it's really great because there's almost like two waves of dragonnings within the book. And it happens for two very different reasons. So it kind of like it does follow a bit of sort of like the paths or concepts of feminism within this like 300 page book. So, highly suggested.

Matt Geeza (10:18)
When you said two waves, I was thinking first wave feminism, second wave feminism [crosstalk].

Kym Powe (10:22)
That’s kind of how it reads, right? You have like, you know, the sort of original dragonning for like a very specific reason and it's great. And I mean, I guess it's not too much of a spoiler, like, so like the first wave of dragonning, like then there's like missing husbands and like that have been like, at one point, like one dragon. 

Ashley Sklar (10:42)
Sure they have. One more. Dragon's gotta eat.

Kym Powe (10:49)
Listen, well, cause it's sort of one like, like fire breathes, like a message into the front door. Like I would have eaten you, but the indigestion wasn't worth it. I was like, yo. Wow. 

So yeah, but then there is like years later, there's sort of like another mini wave of feminism. But then what happens is like after the dragonning they all leave. So like they all leave and then the society's able to revert back to never happened. it's worth, either worth a read or, let me wait a couple years, I'm stressed, right? I'm already stressed, could go either way. But it's a very good read, highly suggested. You're welcome, happy to help. 

Ashley Sklar (11:20)
There's some parallel, some things to connect.

Thanks, Kym.

Kym Powe (11:42)
And so today we're like, kind of talking about books and we're kind of not. So today we're gonna talk about, or we're gonna talk more about, I should say, CT LAB the Connecticut Library for Accessible Books, because it kind of came up the last time we had a big book conversation, right? So with Brad, who was on, he was talking to us about the Palace Project app. Ashley, you and I talked about the current All CT Reads titles. I think it's...

Ashley Sklar (12:08)
I think it was out announcement episode, wasn’t it?

Kym Powe (12:11)
Yeah, the episode where we announced them before sending emails out to our librarians and people who follow the program.  So CT LAB absolutely came up because it's a resource that we use to make sure that the titles that we offer are as available and as accessible as possible.  And, you know, it's definitely come up another couple of times. But we thought that today could be a moment where we just like really dive in and peel back the layers of CT LAB because there are so many layers.

So Matt, you are the director of the Connecticut Library for Accessible Books, previously known as the Library for the Blind. And we know that CT LAB services people who struggle to read because of a visual disability, a reading disability, or learning disability. So can you quickly just kind of remind us of the folks who are served or it can be served by CT LAB before we begin to dive into that process a little bit for folks who are interested.

Matt Geeza (13:09)
Sure, we'll be using throughout the episode the shortened form of our name, which is CT LAB. But just one more time, it's the Connecticut Library for Accessible Books. And as Kym said, there are essentially maybe three different categories of eligibility criteria that could qualify an individual for service. 

And the thing I really want to emphasize is that anyone who meets any one of these criteria would qualify for service. So it doesn't have to be a combination. It just needs to meet one of the criteria. So the first eligibility criteria that could qualify somebody for service is if the person is blind or has low vision. 

The second is if somebody has a perceptual or reading disability. The one that comes to mind for most people when they hear this eligibility criteria is dyslexia, but there are other reading differences that would qualify somebody for service as well. So that's just one of several that would meet that category. 

And then the final is anyone who has a physical disability that makes it challenging for them to use a print book. So this, again, is one of those eligibility criteria where you find a range of disabilities that would qualify somebody for service. It can be anything from someone who might be an amputee to someone who has severe arthritis. Ultimately, what we're kind of talking about here is any kind of physical disability that makes it challenging for somebody to hold a book or turn the pages of a book or for their eyes to sort of view the page for extended periods of time. So that's what the third eligibility criteria kind of boils down to.

Kym Powe (15:03)
And there is, right, so if someone's hearing that and they think like, that might be me. Like I think, you know, I struggle to hold a book for long periods of time, especially hard covers or, you know, keep like a paperback open without destroying the spine or something like that. You know, someone might think that that's something that they qualify for. So what, like, what is the process for? The qualification process, I guess, like the form and kind of like what that entails.

Matt Geeza (15:32)
Sure. So everything that we're going to be talking about today is entirely free. So the first step would be completing an application if you think you qualify for service. There is no application fee or anything like that. So this is a free application that's available from CT LAB. And folks can either contact CT LAB by phone or email and request an application. And we can send it by email or by a hard copy application by mail. 

The application is also available at our website where it's a fillable, downloadable PDF that can be downloaded, filled out, completed, and then to return it. And can either use email or if somebody wants to print it into a hard copy version and mail it in, that's also acceptable as well. So in terms of the application, it's four pages long.

The first page is where you will find the general contact name, information, address, that kind of thing. So it's the basic information about the applicant and their contact information. 

Page two is where it's the only part of the application that does require a third party to become involved and assist with the completion of the application. And this page will refer to as certification or certifying authority. The application outlines the certifying authority and number of different people who can serve as certifiers. So it can be anywhere from medical professionals like doctors, nurses, social workers also can serve as certifiers.

To make it easier for people who are of school age, a range of school personnel are listed. So everyone from a classroom teacher to school social workers to principals to library media specialists can also certify. And of course, librarians are listed. It’s just, we always like to point that out, especially when we're kind of talking to librarians or there's librarians in…

Ashley Sklar (17:40)
And you're in a room full of librarians.

Matt Geeza (17:42)
Yes, exactly. So the best thing for the applicant to do would be to determine who they might want to serve as their certifier. And then they just, once they've completed, the applicant completes their portion of the application, they can pass it along to the certifier. And what the certifier is doing is simply entering their name and contact information, signing off, and checking a box saying, I work with this applicant in some capacity and they meet the eligibility requirements. So there's no additional documentation that needs to accompany the application when somebody is applying for service.

Kym Powe (18:22)
You don't have to bring your librarian medical records, right? Like you don't have to like violate HIPAA and be like, here's my file. Can you please check this box and tell the folks at the state library that I need access to this? Like, it's not like you don't have to go through all of that.

Matt Geeza (18:40)
That's correct.

Yeah, you don't have to do any of that. So the person is just saying, yes, I work with you and I know that you meet the eligibility criteria and then they sign off. And then pages three and four of the application are where we outline the different kinds of services that are available. We'll kind of jump into those a little later. And also on page four is an opportunity for the applicant to share their reading preferences and interests.

And this can be really helpful for our staff. And we'll talk about why that can be helpful as we go on as well. Pages three and four aren't necessarily required. So those are optional pages for the application. But they're strongly encouraged because it really does help us better serve patrons when we have a sense of what they like to read in terms of favorite genres or authors and so forth.

Kym Powe (19:31)
So you mentioned something really interesting to me that I think is definitely worth tapping into. when I go out and do outreach events, just because I'm in youth services, right? So it's like a very specialized space. So when I run into people who are familiar with CT LAB or do remember it by its previous name, they'll say something like, you know, as my mother got older and her vision failed her, like she used these services and they were so great. Thank you. Which is lovely to hear, but you just mentioned that to make it easier for K-12, which is children, right? Which I think sort of maybe to the casual listener, the person that you picture when you picture someone using CT LAB services is like your grandpa with glasses on the tip of its nose. Can you tell us the types of folks that you primarily serve, right, are there, I imagine you mentioned amputees, like veterans might be in this group. So can you just tell us like a little bit more kind of about like the people that you are serving and growing? Because I believe you guys have been doing a lot of outreach and really connecting to new people.

Matt Geeza (20:43)
Sure, yeah. So one of the last things you mentioned was veterans. And so I'll start there. This is a service that really prioritizes veterans. This would be a good time to maybe talk a little bit about our federal partner, the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, or NLS, as in National Library Service.

They are part of Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. And the way this relationship works is that here in Connecticut, we are the agency for the state of Connecticut that partners with NLS to provide the NLS books and equipment to the residents of Connecticut. And NLS has a nationwide network where they partner with agencies in every state to deliver the service to folks.

If you're a Connecticut resident, we're going to serve you here through CT LAB. But if you're listening and you know somebody who lives in another state or you live in another state or any of the US territories, then the good news is that you can connect with the agency of your home state and receive the very similar services and the books and equipment that are available through NLS. 

I say all of that because NLS really exists in part because of veterans, it's a service that is over 90 years old. And it was partly in response when it was developed to newly blinded veterans of the First World War. So there is a long standing tradition of serving veterans. When we process applications, there is on page one, a checkbox that asks if you're a current member of the military or veteran of any of the armed forces. And if we see that box is checked, then

it is required that we process those applications first. So veteran applications go right to the top of the pile when we're processing applications. So there's a long standing tradition of serving veterans and we do a lot of outreach with the veterans community and the VA low vision support groups that exist here in Connecticut.

But then to sort of step back and say, know, your sort of larger question of who do we serve, the short answer is we serve people from all ages of life. It is true that this tends to be a service that many folks come to later in life. So we do find that, you know, more than half of our patrons are over the age of 65.

But that doesn't mean that we can't serve younger people and we are actively trying to spread awareness to schools and to other organizations that work with younger people so that they know that school-aged children, also qualify for the service. 

And the collection was historically a collection that focused primarily on adults, but they're trying to really remedy that and doing a fantastic job of it, in my opinion, of really trying to improve the children's and young adult portions of the NLS collection.

Kym Powe (23:44)
Yeah, I'd have to agree. When Ashley and I do the All CT Reads we're talking a lot about All CT Reads Reads today. When Ashley and I do the All CT Reads Reads program, always right like, we'll send the list to you, Matt, for CT LAB, we'll send it to Brad for the Palace app, and typically 90% of the titles that we have on the list are also available through CT LAB. And that includes the children's list and the teen list. 

I want to I want to pivot a little bit because I'm thinking about schools. So if someone is interested in CT LAB services, there's the application and they can fill it out. But because I work with kids, I work on behalf of kids. They're always at the front of my mind. And the concept of taking something like a talking book player, like back and forth, like on the bus or like if you walk a couple blocks or whatever from home to school and school to home is potentially a little daunting. 

There are institutional accounts, right, that CT LAB has. So can you tell us a bit about the institutional accounts, how they work, and if there's an application process for those as well, like thinking about the VA, right? Just sort of, so like, what's that process like, and how does it differ from the individual application process?

Matt Geeza (24:56)
Sure, yes, you're correct. There's absolutely an institutional application and institutional account that institutions of all kinds, organizations of all kinds can have with us. That application is also available on our website or can be received if you contact CT LAB. So if you work for an organization and you think you might want to apply, then feel free to contact us or download the application from our website and you would want to look for the institutional application.

And then once we have their application, what it does is it allows, especially in the context of schools, it would allow us to send equipment and books and magazines and other resources that are available from us to a contact that we have at the school. So usually the institutional application will have a primary point of contact and that person can work with us to request the items that they need. 

This means that then, yes, in the example you were giving, Kym, where if we have a student who is going back and forth between home and school and they're using a digital talking book player, which is, you know, about the size of a decent hardcover book and weighs a little bit more than that. So if they're…

Kym Powe (26:16)
Of a Stephen King book. That feels appropriate. Stephen King in particular.

Matt Geeza (26:21)
So that's extra weight and an extra item to be traveling back and forth. So what that means is if the school has an institutional account that the classroom teacher or maybe the librarian in the school library can have the pieces of equipment and the students who qualify for service would then be able to borrow them when they're in school. 

And of course, if there were reading books in the curriculum that were, part of an English class or that kind of thing, then we can send books on cartridges and the student would be able to access those in school and not have to be going back and forth with that as well. 

And we can sort of take that model too. So like senior living communities and nursing homes,  other types of schools, hospitals. Anywhere that any type of organization where there's a population of people that qualify for the service. What it boils down to is that they could use the institutional application and become a resource where there's able to sort of lend these resources to the people in their community that qualify for service.

It is important to emphasize that the goal is always to make sure that the people in that community also complete an individual application so that they're registered for the service and we're also working directly with them. But the institutional account is a nice way to ensure that, you know, if folks are patrons of ours and they're working or living within a community or going to school where somebody is willing to support them with this institutional account, then this is a way for them to have more support and additional resources.

Kym Powe (28:11)
And I think it's also an opportunity because it can be hard to describe some of this stuff. So I think it's also an opportunity to demonstrate, right? So if someone's like, I can't picture it. don't know what you're talking about, right? If the organization, the YMCA, right, or something like that has an institutional account, thus has some of the equipment, they potentially could pull it out and be like, you know, okay, like, here's what it is, let me give you a little bit of a demo, let me explain what's going on, we've got some applications for you. So I think it's also potentially another gateway to reaching some of the patrons, because this is the third smallest state, but it is densely populated. There are a lot of people here.

Matt Geeza (28:56)
Yeah, and that's absolutely the case, Kym. This is another way for folks to learn about the service who might not already be connected with it.

Ashley Sklar (29:04)
I was just going to pick up because as you're saying like, it's helpful to see it. I was this very weekend sitting with my mom who's going to become a CT LAB patron. I'm very excited. And so we were going over some of the application together. She's still working on it, thinking about all her reading preferences. 

But one of the things when I was explaining, the different ways to access the service, which I know you're going to talk about, but I pulled out some pictures to show her. I don't, didn't have a talking book player with me, which we'll hear about shortly. And I didn't have the, but I did have the app. And so I did pull up a picture of things to kind of show her as we were like talking about the different options. And she is someone who uses the Palace App, which we've mentioned. So when I showed her the app, it was like a kind of a nice like, this looks like this. It's sort of like got a similar, very clean user-friendly interface, I think. And so that was like immediately appealing to her.  Rather, but like it was helpful to like see both right options. 

So I think the way that an institutional membership can right like allow that access to see what's, what's available, what feels right for me is a very useful aspect. 

Kym Powe (30:10)
Absolutely. And you know what? Yeah, we might as well just sort of dive into that. 

So we've talked a bit about the equipment and carrying the Stephen King sized talking book player. But there are a couple of ways that folks can access these resources. So can you tell us about, I guess, the talking book player would kind of be like the traditional piece of equipment over the BARD app. So can we start there and can you tell us a bit about the talking with player and sort of what it does and how it works. So now we know that it can be sent to an institution, right, for them to use. It can be sent to a person, but like, what is it?

Matt Geeza (30:46)
Sure. I don't know if we've actually said it, but just in case we haven't, the main formats of books that we're providing to folks are books that are known as talking books or audio books. Talking books is just the phrase that we use within the NLS service and also braille materials. 

Kym was asking about the digital talking book machine, which yes, I think is the the more traditional way to read books within our service. The digital talking book player replaced a cassette player, which the cassette player replaced a record player. So there's a long tradition of talking books through NLS. And historically, there has always been some sort of piece of equipment, whether it's that record player or cassette player or now the digital talking book machine that is available to patrons who are qualified for the service. 

So the digital talking book machine is something that patrons can request as one of the options for service that appears on page three of the application. And it, for me, if you're of the generation that I am a part of and maybe a little bit older and a little bit younger, you might remember tabletop cassette players. And the digital talking book machine is very much designed to sort of mimic that tabletop cassette player. So it's about eight and a half inches long, it's about six inches wide and about two inches thick. And so as we said, also like a really good thick Stephen King hardcover book is a good approximation of it.

Kym Powe (32:22)
Yeah, hardcover. I said hardcover. Like not just hardcover, Stephen King hardcover. 800 to 1,000 pages and you're like, but why? Like that's what we're talking about here.

Ashley Sklar (32:29)
Big and chunky.

Matt Geeza (32:36)
And so the digital talking book machine, to continue with a little bit of its physical description. It's it's got like a bluish black cover and then there are multicolored buttons on the top surface of the player and these are the standard buttons that control the playback of books. So there's the play stop button rewind fast forward for example. There's also volume up and down.

And there's a built-in speaker that's also on top of the player. And there are also tone and speed buttons that a reader can use to adjust both the tone and the speed. Tone adjusts bass and treble. And speed, of course, adjusts the rate of playback. You can increase it or decrease it.

Kym Powe (33:25)
Speed is my favorite button. Speed. Faster, faster.

Matt Geeza (33:28)
Absolutely. So some folks can really ratchet it up because they're able to process information very quickly, Some folks find they need to slow it down and that's okay too. And so the speed down button can be helpful in that case as well. 

The player is also designed to be plugged in to a wall outlet and it has a rechargeable battery. So it is portable. So there is some heft, but we don't want you to give you the impression that it is not transportable. I've had patrons tell me that they will take it in the car with them, that they will take it on other types of trips. So it is absolutely something that you can move around with. Some folks tell me that they tend to just have their favorite reading spot at home and they just leave it plugged in at the wall outlet. but the approach is for you to decide how you use it and where you use it. 

And it's designed to play specially designed cartridges that really mimic the cassette. So these are called talking book cartridges and they use flash drive technology to interface with the player. So it's using that USB technology. And so that's how they work in tandem together. 

When somebody registers for the service, they will receive the Talking Book player if they've requested it. And that just stays with them the entire time they're using the service. So what tends to move back and forth between us and their residence are the talking book cartridges and they have their own special mailing containers that they travel in and all of these items and any equipment that we describe travels through U.S. mail free of charge as free matter for the blind. So again another way that this service is entirely free. Nobody pays postage in order to mail these items back to us.

Kym Powe (35:28)
Free is the best word. And it really is, right? I mean, because there potentially could even be an accessibility barrier to an accessibility program, right? Because I mean, things like mail, especially for the talking book player, you know, we really don't see it up here while someone's still using the service unless something breaks, right? But I mean, like the cost of postage nowadays, it could really keep someone from participating in the program or if they have to like physically go to a location, a hub, a library or something like that to pick up the cartridge. Or right, or if there isn't a like tactile option, that could be and you know, a barrier to entry. So I think it's really great that this program is set up like this. 

So we Ashley mentioned when talking to her mom, hi Ashley's mom, BARD So what does BARD stand for? That's like the one CT LAB thing. just can't ever, I got so many facts down, but what BARD stands for? Not a clue.

Matt Geeza (36:40)
Sure, so it's B-A-R-D and that stands for Braille and Audio Reading Download.

Kym Powe (36:48)
That's it's obvious when you say it. Yeah, when it's floating around my mind, I'm like…

Ashley Sklar (36:53)
I'm with you.

Matt Geeza (36:54)
Yeah, so that's that's what it stands for. So the B for Braille, A for audio, R for reading and D for download.

Kym Powe (37:04)
So Ashley said that it's, know, when she was talking to her mom about it, that because her mom already uses Palace, that it felt kind of like a familiar medium. So tell us a little bit about BARD and how it differs from the talking book player or right, like patrons that might pick one over the other, just so we can give folks an idea of the other type of resource that's available for them.

Matt Geeza (37:29)
Sure. So BARD is NLS's download service. folks can download talking books from BARD, as well as electronic braille books. It’s possible, just like we have a file format that we use for Word documents or PowerPoint slides or something like that, there's a special file extension that's used for creating electronic braille materials.

And those electronic braille materials can be read using our refreshable braille display, which is a portable device that has electronic pins that raise and lower. It will display one line of text at a time. And so those pins raise and lower on the display to create this braille sentence that's being displayed. And then the reader can use a cursor key to navigate to the next line of text, and as they press that cursor key, the pins immediately drop down and refresh with the new row of braille text on that display. 

So that's briefly how folks who are using and downloading electronic braille materials would be able to read those materials. At this point, for BARD, there's about four different ways that folks can access the materials. Would you like me…

Ashley Sklar (38:50)
I can never remember all four.

Matt Geeza (38:52)
Yeah. So this is one of the things I really appreciate about NLS is that they're creating options for folks and folks can choose the options that work best for them. Anything that we're describing a patron can use any combination of the services that we're talking about. But they can also just really zero in and focus on the thing that works best for them. But some folks like to try a range of things or find that at different times and in different uses and contexts that different parts of the service work best for them. So that's why I think the options are helpful. 

So bear with me. I'll try to be both succinct in my description of BARD, and the methods you can use. So the original method and the first method would be to log into the BARD website using a computer's web browser. 

To use BARD, the only prerequisite is that somebody has an email address. And then when they let us know that they would like to access BARD, we then just enter their email address into our system, and the system automatically sends them an email that gives them the instructions for creating their account where they can set up their password. When I talk about logging into BARD and using the different methods, the patron will need to use both their email address and their password that they've set up. 

So with the web browser method, what you would do is just log in, search for the books. Then if you find some books that you'd like, you would download them to your computer desktop or somewhere in the file storage of your computer. And then the next step, especially in the context of, well, whether it's audio or braille, you have to transfer that book package to a USB storage device, a thumb drive. And then once it's transferred, you can plug it into a refreshable braille display if you're reading braille materials or if you're using the digital talking book machine there is actually a USB port that's on the side of the player and you can plug that USB stick into the player and the player basically reads it just like it would a talking book cartridge that gives you the ability to search for books and access them without having to go through our library.

Kym Powe (41:20)
I'm, you're saying this and I'm like, did I know this? Why would you gatekeep this info from me? So, right, so if someone decides that they do want a talking book player, but they feel comfortable downloading the books themselves instead of waiting for the cartridge to go back and forth through USPS, they can just do that. Like once you give them the player, they're like, thank you so much for your service. I can take it from here. That's a thing. Didn't know that.

Matt Geeza (41:46)
Right, exactly.

And we can still send them cartridges if they wanted, but they can always do that. Some folks, I will say that some folks find the transfer process after they've downloaded it to be a little challenging. So sometimes it takes a little bit of a learning curve to learn what that process is like, or folks will ask someone to help them with that process. But like I said, that's only one option and that's the original option.

Ashley Sklar (42:19)
I was going say it has that like archaic.

Kym Powe (42:21)
Listen, I was just thinking that and I was beginning and by was I mean I am beginning to have an existential crisis because I'm like, oh no, are thumb drives going the way a floppy disk? I don't know. [crosstalk] It used to be that at any point you could say do you have a thumb drive, do you have a thumb drive, like in college, right? And nine people would pull out their keys and have a thumb drive on their keys or if you were in college, like right.

Matt Geeza (42:32)
Yeah, right. don't know. 

Ashley Sklar (42:51)
And now there's cloud storage in phone and smartphones so like who needs a thumb drive

Kym Powe (42:55)
And now if you ask someone that, they say… 

Ashley Sklar (42:57)
They are becoming an endangered species.

Kym Powe (42:59)
No. No, it's the floppy drives all over again.

Ashley Sklar (43:04)
Floppy disks. Guys, we're dating ourselves. We are dating ourselves.

Matt Geeza (43:10)
So Ashley mentioned, now we have cell phones or smartphones. And that, I think, is a nice segue into BARD Mobile, which is option two for folks. So with BARD Mobile, there is a BARD Mobile application that's available in the Apple App Store, also the Google Play Store. And also, folks can use a Kindle Fire tablet for BARD as well. In the Amazon store, there's also the ability to download the BARD mobile app. 

So once that's installed on a smartphone or a tablet, same thing. There's the first time login using your BARD credentials. And from there, you can begin to search for the books, download the books, right to your device. And then in the case of Talking Books, then you can use that device as a Talking Book player.

So this option can work really well for folks who have smartphones or tablets, feel really comfortable using them and navigating them. And because it's often something that is with people, wherever they go, it allows them to access their reading materials on the go wherever they are. As long as they have an internet connection of some sort, they would then be able to download. You don't need to have an internet connection in order to do the playback which is a nice thing. So once the book's been downloaded, you don't need an internet connection. So that's option two. And I would say that's probably the way most, at this point, the way most of our CT LAB patrons who use BARD access their BARD materials is using BARD mobile.

Option three is using BARD Express, which is a desktop application that can be installed on any Windows machine. So BARD Express, think, conceptually, it's somewhere between using the web browser and using BARD Mobile, but it's just a desktop application for a computer or a laptop. So with this option, you launch BARD Express, you sign into BARD Express, search for books, download books directly onto your computer. But what you can then do, because this is a new feature of BARD Express, is you can access a talking book player from BARD Express, so it's possible to listen to the talking book directly through the BARD Express application on your computer. So it's turning your computer into a digital talking book machine.

Kym Powe (45:40)
You guys don't tell me anything.

Ashley Sklar (45:42)
Yeah, and so BARD Express now has the player. What did you do before there was the player?

Matt Geeza (45:46)
So it was a way of bypassing the browser and having a dedicated application to download and do the transfer. Transfer. Because all of these books are encrypted, which means you couldn't use Windows Media Player or any other kind of media player to listen to a talking book. So all you could do was do the download.

Ashley Sklar (45:56)
But now…

Kym Powe (46:11)
Yeah.

Matt Geeza (46:12)
So now that they've enabled this playback using the BARD Express player, it is something that you can do.

Kym Powe (46:20)
Do BARD Mobile and BARD Express talk to each other? So like if I've got an audio book on BARD Mobile, but then I left my wireless headphones at home, but I still wanna listen to my book, can you pick up where you left off on the book in BARD Express? And if not, I propose that at the next NLS meeting.

Matt Geeza (46:49)
Right now that's not possible, you don't need to propose it because NLS is actively working on this.

Kym Powe (46:55)
Yeah, I mean, think about it, right? Like this has happened a couple times and we all know phones, you can't plug headphones in anymore. It's like a nightmare. So if you like, I like to listen to audio books when I'm doing sort of like monotonous tasks, right? Like something like copying and pasting in Excel spreadsheets, right? Something that doesn't require a ton of brain energy. And I've listened to audio books for so long that like my mind has adjusted, right?

Ashley Sklar (47:19)
Admit it, you're an incredible multitasker. You can do both of the things at the same time and I don’t have that skill.

Kym Powe (47:24)
Ah, I think maybe I should talk to somebody. My brain has to be doing nine things at one time or it does nothing. There is absolutely no in-between. It's everything or despair. 

So, right, like if you leave, like I've left my wireless headphones home a time or two. And even though I have ones that I use at work, right? That plug into my computer for Zoom meetings that I can't, that does not help me with my phone. So yeah, I think it would be really, interesting and super beneficial. Here, here, NLS, like thumbs up.

Matt Geeza (47:57)
Yeah, so what they're doing right now is laying the sort of infrastructure for that capacity within BARD. So it's an ongoing project.

Kym Powe (48:06)
I can be patient. 

Matt Geeza (48:08)
 And then the last option for for listening to or accessing BARD is

Ashley Sklar (48:16)
If we had a call-in show, I would want people to guess what the fourth way is. And be like, all right, guys, who's going to guess number four?

Kym Powe (48:24)
Oh, God. I need like an Instagram or something like drop your thoughts.

Ashley Sklar (48:29)
Okay, right. Okay. Not a call in show. Fine. Dating myself again.

Kym Powe (48:34)
Like we don't have phones.

Matt Geeza (48:37)
I can, I always think of like car talk when I think of doing this kind of work.

Ashley Sklar (48:40)
Totally, yes. Call in.

Matt Geeza (48:45)
But option four is the newest option and that is using the My Talking Book skill as it's known with an Amazon enabled smart speaker. So this is a bring your own device approach. So patrons would have to have their own Alexa enabled smart speaker and if they, I know.

Kym Powe (49:08)
You said it. You said it.

Ashley Sklar (49:11)
Is it you that says Lady A? Who says Lady A?

Matt Geeza (49:15)
That's often used in by some of our CT LAB patrons.

Ashley Sklar (49:18)
I love that. I love the Lady A.

Kym Powe (49:21)
A friend of mine who (at this point I just wear headphones when we're video talking) has a cousin with the same name. So sometimes she'll slip, but otherwise, and I think it's my sister who says Alexis. Like that's what she says to get by it, but we apologize to anyone who's listening to this.

Matt Geeza (49:38)
That's the only time I'm going to say it. From now on, we'll use the Lady A, as Ashley noted. 

So what this means is, again, you just have to have a BARD account. And then we can help you with the setup process to register for it to access the skill. Then once there's a little bit of setup, but it's a pretty easy and straightforward process for setup. And then that allows you to use voice commands to search BARD. And then of course, your speaker then can become a talking book machine. So you can use those voice commands to both search for books, but then also tell it to add a book to a wish list or to play a book or that type of thing or stop or fast forward. All of those different kinds of commands can be used as verbal commands.

So those are the four ways that somebody could use BARD. And really, again, it's up to the patrons to decide which combination or which method works best for them.

Kym Powe (50:45)
I am going to pivot back really quick when we were talking about some of the equipment you mentioned, a digital Braille reader. Is that what it's called? I know what it is. I know I can go pick it up. So which is awesome. I actually was  as a chronically online millennial was scrolling through TikTok one day and actually saw someone using it. So they had written like something that they wanted to just sort of speak out to their followers and they were reading through kind of like their speech on the talking with players. So it's really interesting to watch someone use them. Not the talking with player, the Braille digital.

Ashley Sklar (51:22)
Refreshable Braille Display.

Kym Powe (51:24)
There it is. I didn't use any of the right words. But I know that here in the building where we are recording, CT LAB is also located, we don't really have hard copy Braille. So what's that process like for the Braille readers who are also patrons of CT LAB? Because those aren't in the building the same way they're talking book players in cartridges are.

Matt Geeza (51:48)
So even though we don't have hard copy Braille books here in our location, we do provide hard copy Braille materials to our patrons. And the way we do that is we actually contract with the Utah State Library. Last I knew there were about 20 other states within the NLS network that also rely on Utah State Library for Braille. Perkins Library in Massachusetts is another library that has a large braille collection that other states will work with to provide braille materials. 

So even though we're getting our books, the fulfillment comes from Utah State Library patrons who are CT LAB patrons here in Connecticut. They still work with staff here at CT LAB to place their requests for hard copy braille books. And then we basically relay the request to Utah. It goes through US mail just like the talking book player and cartridges that we described. There's a special braille materials container. And when a patron's done, same thing. They just return free of charge through the U.S. mail the braille materials.

Kym Powe (53:02)
That's that's really great.  So we've talked a bit about the the the I guess like the resources that are available through CT LAB and what I am doing right now that our listeners, because of the audio medium are not doing right now is I am looking at a talking book player. Fourth guest of the day. 

So I feel like it would be interesting. Can you hit a couple of buttons so that we can see what it sounds like and just, you know, so people have an idea and we will link to a picture of it on our Instagram and of course in our show notes we're gonna have links to all of these things. So links to NLS, links to the CT LAB website which is gonna have some more images but I just think it could be fun so we can like, you know, have a little convo with the talking book player.

Matt Geeza (53:57)
Sure, yeah. So one of the great features about the Talking Book machine is that if you have powered on but don't plug a cartridge in, it is in what is called key describer mode. And key describer mode allows you to touch any of the buttons, as Kym said, and the player will announce the function and features of that button. So I'll give a demonstration now. I'm going to first press the Power button to make sure that it's still powered on.  If it is, we will hear an announcement.

Digital Talking Book Machine (54:32)
Player on. Press any button to learn about its function. Battery charge remaining: 12 hours.

Matt Geeza (54:39)
Okay, so it wasn't on, but when I pressed the power button, it powered on, and then we heard the announcement that the player was on, and then it mentioned the battery life so a fully charged battery will have 29 hours of battery life, so we're a little less than half at this point, but there's still several hours of listening with this player and I do not have it plugged in right now so it is operating off of battery mode. 

So I'm going to press the tone up button now and we'll hear another example of what those announcements sound like.

Digital Talking Book Machine (55:16)
Tone Up. To raise the tone of the voice by one step, press the Tone Up button. There are 11 tone steps. The player will tell you when the voice tone is normal.

Matt Geeza (55:27)
Yeah, so that’s a quick description. Some buttons, like the Play Stop button, actually has multiple functions. So it's one of the ways you can get to the built-in user guide. It's also one of the ways you can get to what's called bookshelf mode. And I can demonstrate that, because I think that's a handy thing to know about for folks who are using the cartridges, especially if they receive more than one book on their cartridge.

So with the cartridges, we can load anywhere from about one to 12 books on a cartridge, and that's entirely customizable. So for patrons who find that they prefer just one or a smaller number of books, they can work with staff members here at CT LAB, and we'll set up their account so that they receive the number of books on each cartridge that they prefer. 

Our default, though, for new patrons is to receive six books on a cartridge and with three cartridges checked out at one time. So that gives people access to 18 books at one time. If folks elect to go with a smaller number on their cartridges, well, then we make adjustments to compensate so that they have the same amount of access to the same amount of books as folks who have the six books per cartridge with three cartridges. 

So I am going to kind of quickly talk you through opening the talking book mailing container. It's a hard blue mailing container that's about four inches wide and about five inches long. And on the long sides on one side is a pocket that has the paper address card for the patron. 

And then on the other side are two holes. And this is where you can access the tabs for the clasp that hold it closed. So I'm just using my fingers to pop those tabs. You might hear that in the background. And then the player opens like a clamshell. You just straight up and sitting inside of it is a digital talking book cartridge. 

And the cartridge itself physically is about the size of a credit card, but it's about a quarter inch thick. So it's thicker than the credit card. On the top of the cartridge is a label in large print and in Braille. So you can either use sight or tactile methods to locate the top of the cartridge. And then there's also a finger hole on one end of the cartridge. So the finger hole is the end that you would grasp the cartridge, especially when inserting it into the player. 

So I'm going to now insert the cartridge into the player. So we'll hear the player announce. 

Digital Talking Book Machine (58:12)
Two Books. World War II Navy, Books 1 through 3. Current Position. Library of Congress Annotation. Time Remaining 42 hours 19 minutes. 2014.

Matt Geeza (58:25)
And I think I have the speed ratcheted up a little bit so you can hear what that might sound like if you had the speed button up a little bit. It announced the first book is actually several books. And this sometimes happens if it's a series. Sometimes NLS will package books one through three as one book that you can access.

And we heard like wherever you have left off in that book, if you are in progress and insert the cartridge in, it's going to resume from your last place. So you don't have to use any kind of bookmarking buttons or anything like that. It will just automatically remember where you left off. I think we heard that there were two books on this cartridge, if I'm not mistaken. if I want to go to the other book that's on the cartridge, I'm going to press and hold the play stop button for three seconds. So doing that now.

Digital Talking Book Machine (59:24)
Bookshelf 2 books book 2 World War 2 Navy books 1 through 3

Matt Geeza (59:32)
So now I just hit the stop button to just stop that the announcement. I'm on book two. I'm going to use the rewind button to go and we'll hear what book one is.

Digital Talking Book Machine (59:42)
Ninth House

Kym Powe (59:45)
I know Ninth House.

Matt Geeza (59:46)
Yeah, Ninth House is great. So Ninth House is the other book. If I want to go take a break from World War II Navy books and go to Ninth House, I'm going to just press play stop to make my selection.

Digital Talking Book Machine (1:00:03)
By the time Alex managed to get the blood out of her good wool coat, it was too…

Matt Geeza (1:00:07)
OK, and so that is another example. We just heard the book is in progress. Once I select it, we jump right back into my last place. 

The other thing I didn't mention in the description was that all of the buttons are labeled in print, braille, and they are different colors and different shapes. And some of the buttons have ridges, especially if the buttons are the same shape, like the tone buttons and the speed buttons are the exact same shape. The tone buttons have ridges at the top and the bottom, and the speed buttons do not. 

So this is a way that we could use any combination of sight and tactile clues to determine the different buttons. A lot of thought went into, know, we heard the audio describer mode. I'm describing a little bit about how the buttons use color, print, Braille labeling, well as other tactile clues to help folks learn the player and navigate the player when using it.

Ashley Sklar (1:01:10)
As you're describing that, it just makes me think about design. Back in my art history and history of design days and college and a little bit beyond, it's just like the simplest things sometimes are like the most complicated to design, right? 

Because exactly, like looking at this machine, and I know we'll share links to a photo, it is very like plain looking. It's not fussy, it's not like you, you pick up a smartphone, you open it up, there's like 100 apps on someone, know, and this is like so simple. But that means that like every choice is intentional, right? Like every choice of color, choice of texture, choice of placement, right? It's got a very intentional design process behind it. So yeah, it's really, it's interesting.

Matt Geeza (1:01:58)
Absolutely. This model came into service beginning in 2009. You can infer that it's been a real workhorse. And they got the design right. It’s something that continues to work well to this day and will continue to work. 

And there is another newer version of a talking book machine called the DA2, which stands for Digital Advanced 2 Model. But same thing, there's a lot of thought that went into that. I was able to sort of hear a little bit more from NLS since that work was happening while I was in this role. I was a little more aware of what was going on and all of the thought. A lot of test groups go into it. So they're working with consumers or patrons throughout the country who use the service and would be using the player and they're getting feedback and they're testing and then they're doing those updates based on the first round of testing and then, you know, it's an iterative process. So there's several rounds of that feedback and testing  after they've had a chance to implement, you know, the initial round of suggestions and so forth. So it is absolutely impressive, I think this talking book machine and just I really do appreciate NLS's approach.

Kym Powe (1:03:27)
So great. Thank you so much for giving us a chance to kind of listen and break down the talking with player and the buttons and the design. It really, think Ashley, you're exactly right. Like it's a really thoughtful process because again, like we know the different types of people that CT LAB and ultimately NLS serve and there's different needs for sort of all of these folks. And so this, they've managed to make these these players designed to support as many people as possible. I think that's absolutely amazing. 

And so from a support perspective, we've mentioned a couple of times, right, like staff, right? So you've mentioned, right, you can work with staff and, you know, like Ashley was talking about her mom finishing the last two pages of the application, you know, thinking about the types of books that you read and sort of what you might be looking for. 

So this isn't just you, right? Like we have you here, Matt, but there are other people in CT LAB who provide support to the folks who might be calling in, particularly our Reader’s Advisors. So can you talk a little bit about the Reader’s Advisors, what they do and how they can support anyone who might be reaching out to find out more about the service or use the service or even like order more cartridges?

Matt Geeza (1:04:43)
Absolutely, yes. This is not just me. This is a team of people. 

Kym Powe (1:04:48)
Teamwork makes a dream work.

Matt Geeza (1:04:50)
Absolutely. It's really important to emphasize that.  Two of those team members that are on staff are known as Reader's Advisors, and they are the staff members at CT LAB that patrons are going to interact with most regularly. They staff the phone, they monitor email, and so folks who are enrolled in the service and active patrons can contact their Reader's Advisor.

And when somebody applies for service and begins using the service, they're paired with a Reader's Advisor from the staff. And so that, from that moment forward, that's, staff member is their primary point of contact here at our library. So they, in essence, have almost like a personal librarian that is working directly with them. 

And the Reader's Advisors can help with things like book searches and catalog searches to determine if there's a book or books., you know, by an author or by title or by topic or subject. So all of the ways that historically we search library catalogs, our Reader's Advisors can do that work and support patrons in that way. 

Some patrons call, they know the books available in the collection and so they're just requesting the book by title or author or sometimes by book number. Each of our books in the collection has a unique identifying number. And with that number, a patron, if they look it up, they can then just call in and give the number, for example, DB12345, and request the book that way from their Reader's Advisor. 

Reader's Advisors also provide support to patrons who are using BARD. So we're the first line of support for BARD users. There is a way if there's, you know, a really difficult thing where we're not able to troubleshoot it and solve it, we can escalate it up to NLS BARD support, but we're always sort of the first stop for BARD questions from patrons and Reader's Advisors are the people that are going to be working with patrons to help resolve those issues. 

And just other kind of general reference questions, any other general assistance that our patrons need as the Reader's Advisors to do that. 

And then we have another staff member, just to give you a sense, that takes care of all of the equipment requests for the machines. So for when somebody requests a digital talking book machine or he is also the person that does all of the checking out of the cartridges and the orders that have been filled for book requests. 

And the fifth member of our team helps with processing applications, also helps with book circulation and equipment circulation. We’ve got a small team, but a team that is really dedicated to the work and does a fantastic job of supporting patrons.

Kym Powe (1:07:50)
Small but mighty. True. And in addition to, right, like the book and item circulation, there are also some programs that happen. So I know that one of the Reader's Advisors helps facilitate a virtual book club that happens feasibly every month, I'm not sure. 

And NLS does some programs, right? Like they are, they've very recently started running summer reading programs. So can you talk just like a little bit to give people an idea of what other things they can look forward to with regard to support, not just, right, like with the physical books themselves, but I think like in the book world, which is something that, you know, could be lost somewhere if not for intentional effort.

Matt Geeza (1:08:35)
Yeah, so thinking about a lot of public libraries and other types of libraries, programming is a large part of what libraries do nowadays. And that's the same case with CT LAB and NLS. As Kym said, it's all a kind of these programs are all supporting patrons using the service. 

We do have a book club that meets actually quarterly. And that is led by Paula McLean, who is one of the Reader's Advisors here at CT LAB. And we meet over Zoom. So people can either join by computer or dial in with their phone. They can choose the method that works best for them. And our selections alternate between fiction and nonfiction. We’ve been reading all different genres within fiction and nonfiction. And we've got a really dedicated group of people that are participants in book clubs.

If you are a CT LAB patron and happen to hear this, but didn't know about book club and would want to join, the best thing to do is just contact CT LAB and we'll share information and how to join. 

Then likewise, NLS has a right now five or six different patron programs that patrons nationwide can join, including patrons from Connecticut who are CT LAB patrons. They also host all of their programs over Zoom. And many of the programs are focused on a facet of the NLS services that we've been talking about. 

So for example, there's one called the Many Faces of BARD. So this is all things BARD, and this particular program meets monthly. And so each month they pick a topic related to BARD. There's usually a presentation related to that topic. And then they open up the floor, so to speak, to patrons who are participating. People can ask questions about that topic or just anything related to BARD. 

There's now, as Kym said, an NLS summer reading program, which occurs late June through early August. So they are actively planning for summer 2026 right now.

She's shaking her head. She knows how this goes.

Ashley Sklar (1:10:55)
Summer reading is actually year-round.

Matt Geeza (1:10:58)
Yes, yes, exactly.

Kym Powe (1:10:59)
A break in October. 

Ashley Sklar (1:11:02)
But you can take a breath in October.

Matt Geeza (1:11:03)


We were talking about smart speakers. There's a program called Smart Speaking to the Smart Speaker, which is one of the…

Ashley Sklar (1:11:12)
That's a tongue twister. That's what that is.

Matt Geeza (1:11:14)
And so that's one of the newer programs from NLS and it's as you might imagine it's dedicated directly to you using the smart speakers.

There's one related to the NLS Braille e-reader, which I don't think we came out and said it directly but patrons from CT LAB who would like a refreshable Braille display can access for free the NLS Braille e-reader, which is a refreshable Braille display that they've developed within the last several years. So this is another piece of equipment like the digital talking book machines that's available. And there's a program that focuses on using those NLS Braille e-readers in sort of the different features. 

So that's just, I won't go through all of the programs, but it gives you, you know, those few examples hopefully give you a sense of how they approach it and the range of offerings that are available. And I will say the great thing about this is that because it's led by NLS staff who are really the primary experts in that particular part of the service, it's a great way for patrons to learn directly and interact directly with staff members who are really managing that program nationwide.

Kym Powe (1:12:26)
That's so great. There's always really amazing things happening in CT LAB. I love getting the newsletters and there is a newsletter that we can sign up for. 

But so our job, right? So CT LAB and where we are in Middletown are all a part of the Division of Library Development, right? Which is sort of one division within the Connecticut State Library. That's where we all specifically work and who we work for. The main job, of the, well, we just turn our job into a million things, but one of the jobs at the Division of Library Development is to work with and provide services to public libraries who in turn work with and provide services to the public. 

So something that you did a while back, Matt, I feel like you started this process shortly after you started. I don't think you'd been here very long when maybe sort of the brainchild of the initiative began was to create hub libraries. So we've already talked about how with institutional accounts, places, again, like we mentioned, like senior living centers, schools are able to get institutional accounts to access equipment and sort of like use those within the confines of their space and help educate prospective patrons. 

But you've also done that with the hub libraries. Can you tell us a bit, and if you remember all, was it nine locations? Feel free to rattle those off. But tell us a little bit about the reasoning behind doing that and how that process is going and what people can expect if they do visit a hub library, if it's near them.

Matt Geeza (1:14:01)
Sure, yeah. So we partnered with nine public libraries across the state of Connecticut. And these were the different libraries that we partnered with, volunteered to serve as CT LAB Hub libraries. So we put out a call for, you know, see if anybody was interested and we got a great response. And then what we did was we offered to provide some equipment and both in terms of display materials as well as display furniture to hub libraries and exchange what they were going to do was set up an informational display about CT LAB somewhere within their building. 

So each of these hub libraries now has a display where there is a digital talking book machine, some cartridges, there's information, promotional materials about CT LAB, like our brochures and bookmarks and applications at each of the hub libraries. And we did training at each of the hub libraries for staff members so that they understood what CT LAB is and the services we provide so that it could field basic questions. They're not meant to be delivering the service in any way, but they're an informational resource for the patrons in their region. And the intent behind this was to really try to, get the word out about CT LAB throughout the state. 

We are a small staff as you heard, so, and we do a lot of outreach, but it's not always possible for us to be getting everywhere we would like to. So having these partnerships really benefits us because they are helping out with providing some basic demonstrations of the equipment, sharing information about the service. And then the goal is really they're helping to make that connection for anybody that is a potential patron and connecting us with that patron. You know, hopefully, if all goes well, the potential applicant walks away from a hub library experience, like knowing a little bit about CT LAB and you know, knowing what the next steps are so they could begin the application process and connect with us for service. 

So we did try to geographically spread these hub libraries throughout the state of Connecticut. And I'm going to start from west to east. We have Danbury, Darien, Weston, Stratford, Simsbury, Bristol. And then as we head further east, have Killingly, Slater Library, which is in Jewett City, and we have Otis Library, which is in Norwich. I believe, Ashley, you're nodding your head. 

Kym Powe (1:16:50)
Yeah, you've got them. Look at you.

Matt Geeza (1:16:53)
So grateful for those partnerships because this is a number of years now, I think almost three and a half, four years, I think, that we've been doing this work with our hub libraries and they continue to be a source of referral. And so we're just grateful for that.

Kym Powe (1:17:11)
That's great. Is there anything that you wanted to tell us about CT LAB, about services, resources, or anything else that you wanted folks to know? Because I mean, like you said, CT LAB is small. The Division of Library Development is small. This is a tiny building with a tiny staff trying to provide support for 169 towns. So, you know, we use every medium we got and now we got this podcast. Was there anything else that you wanted to share with us for anyone who might be listening?

Matt Geeza (1:17:44)
Two little things I think come to mind. 

One is that I do want to emphasize that CT LAB is meant to be a resource that can be used in conjunction with any other kind of library service that, so we're not meant to be in competition with any of the public libraries or other local libraries that people might access reading materials from, but hopefully we're just another one of those resources. So if somebody who qualifies for service is already using their local public libraries, say large print collection or audio book collection or any other resources that they're able to access, then by all means we want them to keep that connection to their local public library. And hopefully they just know that we're just another resource that's available in their toolkit that they could access when they're ready for it. Or depending on availability of resources. Sometimes you get the book from your local public library, but if it's not there, turns out it's in CT LAB, great. You can get it through CT LAB in that case.

The other thing is that, you know, if somebody was ever interested receiving outreach visits from us, we're always happy to do outreach visits as a particular area of focus for us. So feel free to contact CT LAB if you'd like to have us come out to an event or just to speak to your community or your organization. We do staff trainings, you know, if it's applicable to staff or to a community. We're happy to do outreach of all kinds is what it boils down to because we want people to know about the resource. It's, I think, a fantastic resource and we want more people to use it and it's free.

Kym Powe (1:19:27)
Absolutely is an amazing resource. When we went down to Mississippi to visit my grandmother, who's 91 years old, I was like, if grandma acted like an old person, we could sign her up for the CT LAB of Mississippi. But that's the most independent woman I think I've ever met in my entire life. She still drives herself places.  So honestly, I think they'd be like, no, ma'am, you don't qualify. You are fine. 

But I think it is a good resource and I think there are still there's still people to tell. There's still people to educate. So we're here. And again, everything is going to be linked in the show notes. We're going to link to the CT LAB page, which is going to have phone numbers and emails and contact information on it. So we are reachable. We are here. So I guess at this point, I will just say thank you for tuning in and joining us and listening to us Under the Charter Oak, a podcast of the Connecticut State Library where we preserve the past to inform the future.