BULLETIN BOARD

A Newsletter of the Wisconsin Regional Library for the Blind & Physically Handicapped
Summer 2003
Volume 21, Number 1

Wisconsin Regional Library Unveils New Entrance

The new accessible entrance from Wells Street to the Milwaukee Public Library should be open in early September. The newly renovated entrance will feature a ground level entry, powered doors, and an elevator whose first stop will be the Wisconsin Regional Library, before continuing up to the first and second floors of the Central Library. This redesign will allow patrons to use the Wells Street entrance for access to the Milwaukee Public Library when the Regional Library is closed. There will be two handicapped parking spaces on 9th Street, just south of Wells. Once the Wells Street entrance is open, patrons will no longer be able to traverse the corridor from the 8th Street entrance to reach the Regional Library, as it will be closed to the public.

Announcements:

We would like to ask everyone to give the Regional Library staff 24 hours notice when coming in person to pick up books. Thanks to statewide budget cuts, the Regional Library is short staffed, and cannot guarantee to have a selection of books put together on short notice.

Resources:

Premier Assistive Technology has announced the release of the Ultimate Talking Dictionary, a comprehensive PC-based dictionary combined with a powerful thesaurus that actually reads the definition aloud for a user. The Ultimate Talking Dictionary contains over 250,000 words, including persons, places, slang and common phrases. The Ultimate Talking Dictionary may be purchased online at, h t t p colon slash slash w w w dor reading made easy dot com, or call, 815-722-5961. For additional Information, Please Contact, Ken Grisham or Steve Timmer, Premier Assistive Technology, Inc., 815-722-5961 or 517-668-8188.

Blind individuals can read printed objects by touch with the, P 2 R D, Tactile Graphic Array. To make Portable Print Reading accessible to users who cannot read by touch, Optical Character Recognition and Synthetic Speech Output are part of the P 2 R D. To free users from the hassle of setting up a scanner, and from the inherent slowness of scanner data acquisition, the P 2 R D uses a mega pixel digital color camera to capture in a single shot an image of any document, book page or printed object. The newly developed Portable Book Reading Accessory will allow rapid reading of books without fear of damaging them, as they are when placed repeatedly in a conventional flat bed scanner. The P 2 R D provides all the functions required to capture the image of an object, recognize the text it contains, and convert this text into synthetic speech or Braille. When used with a portable Copy Stand, the P 2 R D provides audible clues to help the user place the tip of a pen precisely at a specific location on the document placed under the Copy Stand, allowing the user to add handwritten notes to the document, for example to fill a form. If you have questions, comments or suggestions, e mail, p 2 r d at c a technology dot net, or contact Darren Burton, National Program Associate, Technology, American Foundation for the Blind Technology and Employment Center at Huntington, 949 Third Avenue, Suite 200, Huntington, West Virginia, 25701, Phone, 304-523-8651, Fax, 304-523-8656.

The National Center on Accessibility has re engineered their web site to provide the most up to date resources for including people with disabilities in all facets of parks, recreation and tourism. Some of the new features to the NCA web site include, one, Monographs on trails, beaches, campgrounds, picnic areas and more. The monographs are available in H T M L and P D F formats for use as training handouts. Two. Updated listing of products to optimize access in recreation environments and considerations for purchases. Three. New accessible features coded within web pages to enhance usability for people with disabilities visiting the site with adaptive technologies. Click on the link to visit the web site of the National Center on Accessibility

Bibliography: Novels of World War II

With the increasing interest in the, Greatest Generation, here is a list of recommended novels set during the Second World War, including both old favorites and worthy new titles.

Allington, Maynard. The Fox in the field, a World War two novel of India. A roguish gambler is pressed by British intelligence to uncover a 1944 German plot to foment anti British unrest in India. Explicit descriptions of sex. RC 43636.

Beach, Edward Latimer. Run silent, run deep. Novel about a submarine war patrol that pursues a Japanese ship in the Pacific Ocean. RC 26547.

De Bernieres, Louis. Corellis mandolin. As Captain Corelli, a member of the Italian occupation forces that invade the Greek island of Cephallonia, and Mandras, a local fisherman, vie for Pelagia, daughter of Doctor Iannis, the arrival of Nazi and Communist troops turns the placid island into a quagmire. Some strong language. RC 39551.

Denny, Robert. Aces: a novel of the world at war. A former Allied combat pilot relives the final days of World War two. Strong language, violence, and some descriptions of sex. RC 33727.

Gobbell, John J. The Last Lieutenant. Lieutenantt Todd Ingram and his crew flee Corregidor as the Japanese are approaching, and race across treacherous Philippine waters to prevent a Nazi spy from alerting the Japanese to an Allied trap. Some strong language and some violence. RC 48789.

Griffin, W. E. B. Semper Fi, The Corps, Book 1. Focuses on a smart, tough, independent Private First Class named Ken McCoy, whose cool head under fire combined with his skullduggery and knack for learning foreign languages helps him gain a commission after Pearl Harbor. Strong language and explicit descriptions of sex. RC 25069.

Heller, Joseph. Catch 22, a novel. A grotesquely comic novel about the mad adventures of Captain Yossarian, a bombardier based in Italy during World War two, who desperately tries to avoid flying missions while his fanatical commander keeps increasing the quota needed to rotate home. Strong language and explicit descriptions of sex. RC 18132.

Higgins, Jack. The Eagle has flown, a novel. Colonel Kurt Steiner, apparently killed in a German attempt to assassinate Winston Churchill, has survived. Liam Devlin, a noted I R A gunman, is called upon by Reichs fuhrer Himmler to rescue him. Sequel to, the Eagle Has Landed. Strong language. RC 33001.

Iles, Greg. Black Cross. Following his grandparents funeral, Doctor Mark McConnell is approached by an old family friend who tells Mark an extraordinary, horrifying story about his grandfathers World War two mission into Germany. Strong language and violence. RC 41450

Jones, James. The Thin Red Line. A multi level fictional chronicle of the amphibious military operation in the World War two Guadalcanal campaign. RC 14614.

Katzenbach, John. Harts War. Stalag Luft Thirteen, 1 9 4 4. Former Harvard law student Tommy Hart is ordered to represent fellow Prisoner Of War Lincoln Scott, a Tuskegee airman who is accused of murdering a bigoted American captain. Hart soon realizes that he and his client are victims of a frame up. Strong language and some violence. RC 50677.

MacLean, Alistair. H. M. S. Ulysses. The sea route to Murmansk is the scene for this novel about a British light cruiser shepherding a convoy through Arctic gales. RC 32261.

Mailer, Norman. The Naked and the Dead. Story of an American platoon on a Japanese-held island during World War two. RC 13465.

Michener, James. Tales from the South Pacific. Nineteen World War two tales that won the Pulitzer Prize. Strong language. RC 44249.

Reeman, Douglas. Torpedo Run. During World War two, the British send a flotilla of five torpedo boats to aid the Russian campaign against the Germans in the Black Sea. RC 18105.

Rosenbaum, Ray. Falcons, a novel. Pilots Ross Colyer and Broderick Templeton are sent together to Africa to train for a secret mission to destroy Romanian oil refineries in Ploesti. Then the mission goes awry and they end up in enemy territory. Strong language, some violence, and some descriptions of sex. RC 39672.

Westheimer, David. Von Ryans Express. In an Italian Prisoner Of War camp, the ranking officer among the American and British is a martinet named Ryan, who insists on maintaining military discipline. Under his direction the prisoners take over the entire train that is transporting them to Germany. Violence. RC 17950.

Wouk, Herman. The Winds of War, a novel. In March 1939, forty nine year old Commander Victor Henry of the United States Navy is assigned to Berlin as naval attache. With the bombing of Pearl Harbor, he sees his two sons go off to war, his daughter caught in a love affair, and his wife thinking of divorce. RC 13492.

BULLETIN BOARD is published four times a year by the Wisconsin Regional Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. It is available in large print, Braille, and audiocassette editions. The Wisconsin Regional Library makes no recommendations or endorsements concerning any products or services which may appear in this publication.

Wisconsin Regional Library for the Blind & Physically Handicapped
813 West Wells Street
Milwaukee, WI 53233-1436
1-414-286-3045 (in Milwaukee)
1-800-242-8822 (in Wisconsin)
1-414-286-3548 (TDD)
1-414-286-3102 (FAX)
lbph@milwaukee.gov, (e-mail)
http://dpi.wi.gov/rll/wrlbph/index.html, (website)
http://wmbph.mpl.org/opac, (on-line catalog)

For questions about this information, contact Shiela A. Pollock (608) 224-5395

Last updated on 2/28/2008 8:52:01 AM