Since baseball season is now upon us, and you’ve got me feeling nostalgic, I can’t help but think of that euphemism that we always say when our favorite team loses to the Yankees in the play-offs: “Just, wait until next year!”

With the Radio Reading Service, I feel the same way. The blind still have the need for audio access local information and entertainment. They always will have that need and it’s not a need that seems to be met by alternatives like cable TV, FM Radio, Google. Yes, the old method of delivering the Radio Reading Service over analog radio bands has had its day. The Internet, though, now affords numerous ways to stream and deliver digital content that is both better and cheaper than ever before.

The Radio Reading Service is down and out now, but what about next year? Is there a new season to look forward to? Can Utah libraries, and in particular The Library for the Blind, partner with our newspapers and local providers, and come up with an affordable way to deliver to them local news and information like grocery ads?

There are new methods, now on the cusp, that could be harnessed for the blind: advances in text-to-voice speech recognition, access to low cost and ubiquitous devices like iPods, easy ways to deliver and subscribe to podcasts, low-cost ways to stream digital content on the Web, libraries of eAudio books available to library patrons through PIONEER, and apps for the new e-readers such as the iPad that will make it easier than ever to find, download, and read e-books and e-magazines. You, quite likely, can think of even better ideas than these that I mention.

I’m not an expert in the field, but I do believe we can overcome any obstacles. Just like Cubs fans who are perennial believers, I believe that we can come back. I believe that we have the talent in this state to do this. I believe that the people of Utah are generous enough to support a digital audio information service for the elderly and the blind.

Let’s put our minds together to find a solution. I hope we can tell them before long that we’re working on something better, “Just wait until next year.”

Has anyone seen statistics, like in those videos, for library and library patron use of social media?

Here are some starting points that might be of interest:

• Library 2.0 social network
• Facebook. Do a search and you’ll find Salt Lake County Library Services, J. Willard Marriott Library, Utah State Law Library, The Harold B. Lee Library, Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library, Salt Lake City Public Library, The Utah Hive, Utah Academic Library Consortium, Mountain Plains Library Association, REFORMA de Utah, and many others
• Twittering Libraries
• Utah Libraries Twitter League
• YouTube. Do a search and you’ll find many Utah Libraries such as the Salt Lake County Library, Marriott Library, UVU Library, the Utah Hive, and others.

http://illinoisbroadbanddeployment.pbwiki.com/Broadband-Technology-in-the-Federal-Stimulus-Package

Thanks, Jenny!