NFB-NEWSLINE Service Now Available

The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) and the Wisconsin Talking Book and Braille Library are working with the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) to make new NLS patrons and other eligible individuals aware of NFB-NEWSLINE (http://www.nfb.org/nfb/newspapers_by_email.asp?SnID=448947868), a free dial-in service that provides more than fifty newspapers, including the Milwaukee Journal and the Wisconsin State Journal, updated daily, over the telephone. The user can easily select a newspaper, a section, or an article of interest. The immediacy of NFB-NEWSLINE is made possible by use of synthetic speech, which is nonhuman computerized speech.

NFB-NEWSLINE provides audio versions of daily newspapers using speech created by computers. Newspapers from throughout the United States cooperate with this service and send electronic text to the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) for processing and distribution. Access to this service is available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, to anyone who is eligible to receive library services from the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) of the Library of Congress and cooperating network libraries.

How to Use NFB-NEWSLINE

All NFB-NEWSLINE readers need an identification number and security code, which are assigned upon registration. Using the system requires a touch-tone telephone. A phone with a speaker is convenient but not required. Anyone who is registered can call NFB-NEWSLINE at the number provided: 1-888-882-1629. After a brief opening announcement, the system will ask for your preassigned identification number and security code, which you enter on the touch-tone keypad. Once admitted, you can then access the newspaper menu or select other information. When choosing the newspaper option, you can read papers in your state or nearby area, or you can read other papers from across the country. After you have chosen a paper, you can listen to today's edition, yesterday's edition, or the Sunday paper, which remains on NFB-NEWSLINE for an entire week.

Once in the menu of a particular paper, you can choose any section presented on the menu as soon as you hear the one you want. You can switch from article to article, section to section, or paper to paper at any time and without delay; it is fast and easy. Also, when reading a particular section, pressing a single key on the telephone keypad will quickly move you from one article to the next, skip ahead in the article, return to a previous article, change the speaking speed, change the reading voice, or spell out or search for words. The keystrokes are few and easy to remember. NFB-NEWSLINE reminds you to check the help page to learn more about the service and any changes each time you call.

To request an application, contact the Wisconsin Talking Book and Braille Library at 1-800-242-8822 or download one and send it to the Wisconsin Talking Book and Braille Library or to the National Federation of the Blind at the address on the application.

FOR A DOWNLOADABLE NEWSLINE APPLICATION, CLICK HERE!

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

Last updated on 11/5/2009 2:02:22 PM