BARD Talking Book Download Program
Subject: BARD Talking Book Download Program
We are very excited to be able to offer our clients of all ages training
on how to use BARD the new electronic download program available
nationally through the Library of Congress Talking Book Program.
our clients as they need to create their own log in using their email
address and their own password.
Here is the website for bard
https://www.nlsbard.loc.gov
The BARD web site can be found at this address:
https://nlsbard.loc.gov/nlsbardprod/index.html
How to Download a Digital Book from the NLS BARD Database to your Computer
BARD is an acronym for "Braille and Audio Reading Download." By accessing the BARD website of the National Library Service ("NLS"), you can choose among many magazines and thousands of books. These books and magazines can be downloaded to your computer. From your computer you can transfer the book or magazine to a flash drive (often called a "thumb" drive). You can then insert the flash drive into the USB port located on the right side of the NLS digital player, turn on the player and listen to the book.
Your only expenditure will be a flash drive of between 2 and 8 gigabytes to hold the book contents. Ask a knowledgeable store clerk to help you obtain a simple, non-partitioned USB flash drive. (The list at the end of these instructions includes several products that have been shown to work correctly). It appears to be important that the flash drive does not contain built in partitions or internal programs. These seem to confuse the player. The larger the storage capacity of the flash drive, the higher the likelihood that it contains these built in partitions and programs.
Also, we have found that flash drives must be formatted in FAT32 file format to be recognized by the player.
If after all of the instructions below are followed you get a message that you are not authorized to play the book or some similar message, the flash drive is probably the reason.
You must be a customer of the Bureau of Braille and Talking Book Library Services to successfully download and play digital books and magazines from BARD.
Our application for membership is in the right side panel. If you are using a screen reader, use the Control Find function to locate the phrase "Application for Library Services").
1. The application process consists of several simultaneous screens. The first screen is here: https://nlsbard.loc.gov.
2. It provides general information for people who possess either our library digital player or a commercial player. After reviewing this information, to go to the next screen, press the link near the bottom of the page that states "Link to BARD Application."
3. The screen requests that you identify your home servicing library. Place your mouse cursor inside the drop down box that bears the name of the Alaska State Library. Left click and a long list of other libraries will drop down. Choose the Florida library that serves you; right click it and then click the "Submit" button.
4. At the application page that appears you will be asked to supply several items of personal information. Be sure that your name is inserted in exactly the same way that we identify you when we send you a book or other item that you have ordered in the past. Look at the mail card on a recent item if you are not certain how we identify you. A drop down box contains the phrase "NLS Digital Talking Book Player". This is our library player, so unless you are using a commercial player this is the correct choice.
5. Do not forget to click the Submit button when all fields have been completed.
6. You will then receive a message screen that states "Your request has been entered into our database. Thank you for your interest." You will receive an e-mail message shortly confirming your application.
7. An email is then sent to us, usually within 24 - 48 hours, to inform us that you have been accepted or rejected for the BARD program. If accepted, we add you to our list of BARD users. We attempt to do this within 24 hours. NLS or our library will inform you of any difficulty encountered in your application process.
8. You will receive a second e-mail message from NLS when your application is processed. Follow the directions in it carefully. You are now ready to download a book.
9. To enter the BARD catalog, go to: https://nlsbard.loc.gov/cgi-bin/nlsbardprod/index.cgi. You will be required to enter your email address as your ID and the password that they assigned you. You will be asked to create a new password. Since this is the site that you must use in the future to enter the catalog, you should write down or have your computer memorize the new password. NLS provides a procedure to remind you of your password should you forget it.
10. Once in the catalog you can access books several ways: recently added books, most popular books, search by subject, search by author, search by title, or browse by author last name, subject or title, search recently added magazines, or search magazines by title.
11. Once you have settled on a book or magazine, click the link for it. The link will be in a different color on your screen, will begin with the word "Download", will contain the name of the book or magazine, and if a book it will contain the book number.
12. When you click the book title link, a "file download" screen will pop up.
13. Click "Save". A "Save as" screen will pop up. Often the "Save as" box at the top of this screen will show "My Documents" as a default location to save your downloaded book or magazine file. You can either download without creating a file or you can create and/or use a special file folder you create such as "BARD" or "Books" to use for all future downloads. Once you initiate the download, the download will occur automatically.
14. It will take some time for the entire book to download. NLS allows only three books to be downloaded to your computer at one time. The books or magazines will be downloaded in a special format called a "zip" file. This file is very compact and does not take up as much space in your computer as would most other formats. We do not recommend that you unzip the file anywhere within your computer as this will take up additional space. Instead you will soon be unzipping this file directly to your flash drive.
15. The computer will inform you when the NLS download is complete, either via a screen or by a sound. When download is complete, see if a button appears on the screen that asks you if you want to view the file. If so, click that button. If no such opportunity is presented, try to locate the file. If you placed the download in a special folder, you can look there for it now. The task now is to find the file you downloaded.
16. Once located you can transfer a copy of the file to your flash drive.
17. Insert your flash drive into any USB port on your computer. When you insert the flash drive usually a screen will pop up showing the standard drives of your computer. You will notice on this pop up screen an additional drive that was not previously listed. You might need to insert and remove the flash drive several times before you can figure this out. Remember the drive where the flash is inserted, as this will be important in steps eighteen (18) and nineteen (19).
18. Once you locate the zip file in your computer, RIGHT mouse click the file.
19. One of several choices presented will be one to "Extract" or "Extract all" or to "Unzip to" or something similar. Left click this choice. (You may be assisted at this point by a ZIP file extraction wizard of some type. Whether assisted by a wizard or not, you should determine where you wish the extracted file to be sent. You want the zip file to be unzipped straight into the flash drive.)
20. Often the "Select a Destination" screen will pop up next, allowing you to choose among several potential destinations. Select the option "Computer". Then repeat the process by selecting the Drive where your flash drive is located.
21. Select the "Next" button to begin the file transfer.
22. The computer will notify you in some way when the transfer of the book or magazine is completed.
23. After a download is accomplished and before you remove the flash drive from the computer you should utilize any available procedure that your computer provides to safely remove hardware. Then remove the flash drive.
24. Your library digital player contains a USB port on the right side. It is usually covered with a plastic insert, which you should remove and tape to the inside of the storage box in which the player was sent to you. Stick your flash drive into the USB port. Power up the player, hit the play button and enjoy your book or magazine.
25. If nothing happens, or you get a message instead of a book, it is possible that the problem is not the procedure, but the flash drive. The flash drive you use must be un-partitioned, contain no files of any kind, and be as cheap as you can find. A 2-gigabyte flash drive will hold most any book. The formatting should be "FAT 32".
26. If you want to store several books at one time on your flash drive, you should buy a larger capacity flash drive. After downloading several books to it, you can control which book is played with your player using the "Bookshelf" feature. Stick the flash drive into the USB port of the player. Power on your player. Push and hold down the Play/start button until you hear a narrator state that you are at the bookshelf, and then hit the FF or the RW button to toggle from book to book. When you are at the book you desire to play, release the Play/Stop button.
27. If you have successfully mastered the download of a single book or magazine, but cannot utilize the bookshelf feature of your player, it is likely that your player has not been upgraded to play multiple books. This feature is called "Bookshelf", and your player can be upgraded to include this feature. Contact us for additional instructions for this upgrade.
Bureau of Braille and Talking Book Library Services
Daytona Beach, FL
386-239-6000 ext. 6080
E-mail: [email protected]
Flash drive information:
Blank NLS digital cartridges are designed for NLS player, fit in cartridge slot, and are easier to insert/remove from machine
· 1G; holds approximately 92 hours of NLS books
· Requires a cable to connect to your computer
· Sources include
o Adaptive Technology, a division of Perkins Products of the Perkins School for the Blind. Cartridges are $14.95, while blank 1GB cartridges bundled with a compatible 36-inch USB cable are $17.95. The USB cable may also be purchased separately for $3.95.
Customers ordering by phone or online may use credit cards. Perkins also accepts e-mail or fax purchase orders. To place an order, contact Adaptive Technology, a division of Perkins Products, as follows:
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: (978) 462-3817
Fax: (978) 462-3928
To place an order online, go to the Talking Book Accessories section of file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/judith.evans/Desktop/all%20things%20BARD/LATEST%20BARD%20UPDATED%20DOCUMENTS/www.perkinsproducts.org.
To order by mail, send your request with a check to:
Perkins Products
P.O. Box 778
Amesbury, MA 01913
The American Printing House for the Blind is now selling 2GB digital talking-book cartridges, designed to be used with the NLS digital-talking book machine, for $11.99.
To place an order, contact the American Printing House for the Blind at http://shop.aph.org/ or 1-800-223-1839. Customer service questions may be sent by e-mail to [email protected].
Commercial Flash drive
Also called jump drive, thumb drive
Fits in USB port on the right side of the NLS machine (remove plastic insert)
Some brands work better than others; look for those without built-in U3 software. Brands we have found to work include:
Dane Elec
Verbatim
Lexar
Sony
PNY
Kingston
Ativa 8 G
Look for 1G to 8G of memory; those with more memory may not work
Advantage: Available locally at most discount, electronic, or department stores; can be found for $10-$15; available in larger sizes that hold more books
The flash drive must contain only BARD books. The player will not read a drive with other file formats on it.
hadley
From: The Hadley School for the Blind [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, February 04, 2011 11:47 AM
To: Beverly Bennett
Subject: Hadley Announces Three New Access Technology Courses!
NEW! The Hadley School for the Blind Launches Three New Access
Technology Courses
We are pleased to announce the launch of three new, structured and
practical online courses designed to improve user access technology
skills for users of screen readers. Each course consists of two lessons.
"Screen Readers: Listening Skills" trains users to increase their speed
of listening to a screen reader. The course assists in being able to
listen and comprehend a screen reader at 300 words or more a minute. It
also teaches techniques to enable a user to listen to a screen reader
and listen to another person on the phone at the same time. This skill
lends itself to success in most work places. For more information or to
register, follow this link
<http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=13342670&msgid=252296&act=FRG
0&c=225701&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hadley.edu%2FshowCourses.asp%3Fc
ourseid%3DTEC-131> .
"Screen Readers: Web Browsing" is about navigating Web sites. This
course has lessons that provide tips and advice on the best methods to
navigate very accessible Web sites as well as those that present more
accessibility challenges. The Internet is "an information super
highway," and an ability to navigate it efficiently and skillfully is
crucial to educational and workplace success. For more information or to
register, follow this link
<http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=13342670&msgid=252296&act=FRG
0&c=225701&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hadley.edu%2FshowCourses.asp%3Fc
ourseid%3DWEB-121> .
"Screen Readers: Formatting Word Documents" is aimed at sharpening the
user's skill in Microsoft Word 2007. This course covers editing text,
adjusting fonts, using headings, bullets and much more while using a
screen reader. Determining editing and formatting problems with a screen
reader can be challenging, but mastering the techniques taught in this
course can lead to confident creation of appropriate-looking documents
for work or school. For more information or to register, follow this
link.
<http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=13342670&msgid=252296&act=FRG
0&c=225701&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hadley.edu%2FshowCourses.asp%3Fc
ourseid%3DWRD-111>
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