taxpayers in that jurisdiction or perhaps from some additional contribution from the State government through the State library.

A few regional libraries are in State commissions for the blind or in one or two instances in residential schools for the blind. This staff and these administrative costs are supported by that administrative unit, as at Talladega at the Institute for the Blind.

Mr. ANDREWS. You do furnish all these libraries, though, with machines which they, in turn, furnish to the applicants?

Mr. BRAY. That is correct.

Mr. ANDREWS. Who are either now blind or physically handicapped?

Mr. BRAY. Along with the books.

Mr. ANDREWS. When you say "books," you mean records?
Mr. BRAY. Records.

Mr. ANDREWS. And braille?

Mr. BRAY. That is correct, sir.

Dr. MUMFORD. Do you not want to distinguish between the library giving the service and the State agency that handles the machine?

Mr. BRAY. Yes. In most States a separate agency handles the talking book machines. This is not the case, of course, in Alabama, where the same agency handles both. In Florida, Iowa, and two or three other States, the same agency that handles the books handles the machine. However, in most States the machines are handled by the State commission for the blind as an avenue of establishing eligibility for the program, largely.

OBJECTIVES AND OPERATIONS OF THE PROGRAM

Mr. ANDREWS. Your program is concerned with placing talking books and machines in the hands of blind people who apply for them. What do you mean by talking books?

Mr. BRAY. A talking book is a print book which has been read word for word, without addition or change, by expert readers on longplaying phonograph records. Currently, talking books appear on 16%revolution-per-minute recordings, 10 inches in diameter.

Mr. ANDREWs. I believe you have told us heretofore that you use professional readers to transcribe the book onto the disk or record. Mr. BRAY. That is correct.

Mr. ANDREWS. I have heard some of them, and they are quite good. (Off the record.)

Mr. ANDREWS. Is this $7,000 you are requesting for the transportation of things the total amount that is used to ship these books and machines?

Mr. BRAY. Yes, sir. It will be used in the case of establishing new libraries.

Mr. ANDREWS. What is the base for this?

Mr. BRAY. The base is $500, Mr. Chairman. It has been somewhat inadequate in the past.

Dr. MUMFORD. In normal service, the books are taken by the Post Office free of charge, but these are additional expenses in connection. with the establishment of libraries.

Mr. ANDREWS. I want to ask something else about the people who receive the machines. Are they furnished periodically with a list of new records available for them to order?

Mr. BRAY. Yes, they are, Mr. Chairman. They receive catalogs of books produced in the past but, most importantly, every other month the talking book reader receives directly at his home mailing address a copy of Talking Book Topics, which is a magazine which announces and describes to some extent the new books which have gone into his library in the last 2 months; also, certain additional items about services to the blind and handicapped with relation to the books. Mr. ANDREWS. How many translators do you have?

Mr. BRAY. If I understand you correctly, sir-

Mr. ANDREWS. I mean readers, the people who read the book and put it on the record.

Mr. BRAY. The reading onto records is done at two nonprofit studios and agencies for the blind-the American Printing House for the Blind in Louisville, Ky., and the American Foundation for the Blind in New York City. These two organizations between them, I understand, have a pool of about 150 readers from whom they draw.

Mr. ANDREWS. You do not do any of this work within your organization?

Mr. BRAY. No, sir.

Mr. ANDREWS. You do it by contract? Do they charge for the services?

Mr. BRAY. The price of a reader is included in the total cost of producing a talking book. I might say the fee the readers are paid is very small compared to what they get as professional performers.

INCREASE FOR LONG-DISTANCE TELEPHONE

Mr. ANDREWS. You are requesting an increase of $3,000 for longdistance telephone. How much is in the base, and what is the total requested for 1968?

Dr. MUMFORD. The base is $1,000, Mr. Chairman, and we are asking for the additional $3,000 to bring it to $4,000.

Mr. ANDREWS. Why the increase?

Mr. BRAY. The increase, Mr. Chairman, is due to the very substantial advantages we have derived from being able to telephone the blind and other handicapped people who are using the program or who are interested in it, and the heads of agencies who are discovering the program and who in effect want to discuss the program to be sure that some of our new work is really taking hold.

Let us say, for example, a chapter of the Cerebral Palsy Association discovers the service and asks for it. There is much information that you cannot get in a short letter of request or in the response. Handicapped people and people who work with them depend very much on the telephone.

Mr. ANDREWS. You have been getting by with $1,000. Have you been spending all the $1,000?

Mr. BRAY. Yes, sir.

Mr. ANDREWS. How long does it take an applicant for a machine to be served?

Mr. BRAY. It takes at least 2 weeks.

Mr. ANDREWS. Where does he apply? To the regional library? Mr. BRAY. He applies to the regional library or he may apply directly to our Division, and then we will refer it back to the regional library.

INCREASE FOR PRINTING AND REPRODUCTION

Mr. ANDREWS. You are requesting an increase of $13,000 for printing and reproduction. How much is in the base, and what is the total requested for 1968?

Dr. MUMFORD. The base is $25,000, Mr. Chairman. The increase of $10,000 brings it up to $35,000. This is to provide necessary revisions and amplifications of printed publications to include the resources of our expanded program.

I think this would include some materials related to your question as to whether readers were aware of the additional books that were being made, does it not, Mr. Bray?

Mr. BRAY. That is correct, Dr. Mumford. It might be pertinent here to mention the advantages in terms of savings in money and effort which are realized in working through the various health agencies that are concerned with other handicapped persons. For example, the newsletters of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and other associations, which already go on a regular basis to thousands of potentially eligible persons, pick up our news releases and other information we distribute and tell their readers about this service. This saves us considerable effort and represents some savings in publication

costs.

Over and above that, we need additional brochures.

SELECTION OF BOOKS TO BE RECORDED

Mr. ANDREWS. Do you have one of your brochures advertising or listing the talking books that are available?

Mr. BRAY. We distribute samples of our magazine to indicate what books are available.

Mr. ANDREWs. That is what I had in mind.

Mr. BRAY. Then we make up, for example, special little announcements to go with special activities. In the area of handicapped children, for example, we ran off an announcement which was taken to a conference of a branch of the National Education Association, and the teachers and student teachers who are going out to teach the handicapped completely exhausted the supply that we had on hand.

Mr. ANDREWS. How do you determine what books will be put on records?

Mr. BRAY. The books are selected with a view to the nature of the program, which, of course, is national, and is intended to meet to some extent the reading interests of people of all ages and educational backgrounds. They are selected with a view to what is already available, so you build on existing selections. They are selected in response to interest shown by talking book readers who like to read this or that, by direct communication-in other words, with the users.

In some area, notably children, young adults, and so forth, in determining what we should record to give them information about the situation in Cuba, Vietnam, space, and other topics of current interest, we consult with specialists in the Library of Congress for subject decisions.

Mr. BRAY. Yes, they are, Mr. Chairman. They receive catalogs of books produced in the past but, most importantly, every other month the talking book reader receives directly at his home mailing address a copy of Talking Book Topics, which is a magazine which announces and describes to some extent the new books which have gone into his library in the last 2 months; also, certain additional items about services to the blind and handicapped with relation to the books. Mr. ANDREWS. How many translators do you have?

Mr. BRAY. If I understand you correctly, sir-

Mr. ANDREWS. I mean readers, the people who read the book and put it on the record.

Mr. BRAY. The reading onto records is done at two nonprofit studios and agencies for the blind-the American Printing House for the Blind in Louisville, Ky., and the American Foundation for the Blind in New York City. These two organizations between them, I understand, have a pool of about 150 readers from whom they draw.

Mr. ANDREWS. You do not do any of this work within your organization?

Mr. BRAY. No, sir.

Mr. ANDREWS. You do it by contract? Do they charge for the services?

Mr. BRAY. The price of a reader is included in the total cost of producing a talking book. I might say the fee the readers are paid is very small compared to what they get as professional performers.

INCREASE FOR LONG-DISTANCE TELEPHONE

Mr. ANDREWS. You are requesting an increase of $3,000 for longdistance telephone. How much is in the base, and what is the total requested for 1968?

Dr. MUMFORD. The base is $1,000, Mr. Chairman, and we are asking for the additional $3,000 to bring it to $4,000.

Mr. ANDREWS. Why the increase?

Mr. BRAY. The increase, Mr. Chairman, is due to the very substantial advantages we have derived from being able to telephone the blind and other handicapped people who are using the program or who are interested in it, and the heads of agencies who are discovering the program and who in effect want to discuss the program to be sure that some of our new work is really taking hold.

Let us say, for example, a chapter of the Cerebral Palsy Association discovers the service and asks for it. There is much information that you cannot get in a short letter of request or in the response. Handicapped people and people who work with them depend very much on the telephone.

Mr. ANDREWS. You have been getting by with $1,000. Have you been spending all the $1,000?

Mr. BRAY. Yes, sir.

Mr. ANDREWS. How long does it take an applicant for a machine to be served?

Mr. BRAY. It takes at least 2 weeks.

Mr. ANDREWS. Where does he apply? To the regional library? Mr. BRAY. He applies to the regional library or he may apply directly to our Division, and then we will refer it back to the regional library.

INCREASE FOR PRINTING AND REPRODUCTION

Mr. ANDREWS. You are requesting an increase of $13,000 for printing and reproduction. How much is in the base, and what is the total requested for 1968 ?

Dr. MUMFORD. The base is $25,000, Mr. Chairman. The increase of $10,000 brings it up to $35,000. This is to provide necessary revisions and amplifications of printed publications to include the resources of our expanded program.

I think this would include some materials related to your question as to whether readers were aware of the additional books that were being made, does it not, Mr. Bray?

Mr. BRAY. That is correct, Dr. Mumford. It might be pertinent here to mention the advantages in terms of savings in money and effort which are realized in working through the various health agencies that are concerned with other handicapped persons. For example, the newsletters of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and other associations, which already go on a regular basis to thousands of potentially eligible persons, pick up our news releases and other information we distribute and tell their readers about this service. This saves us considerable effort and represents some savings in publication costs.

Over and above that, we need additional brochures.

SELECTION OF BOOKS TO BE RECORDED

Mr. ANDREWS. Do you have one of your brochures advertising or listing the talking books that are available?

Mr. BRAY. We distribute samples of our magazine to indicate what books are available.

Mr. ANDREWs. That is what I had in mind.

Mr. BRAY. Then we make up, for example, special little announcements to go with special activities. In the area of handicapped children, for example, we ran off an announcement which was taken to a conference of a branch of the National Education Association, and the teachers and student teachers who are going out to teach the handicapped completely exhausted the supply that we had on hand.

Mr. ANDREWS. How do you determine what books will be put on records?

Mr. BRAY. The books are selected with a view to the nature of the program, which, of course, is national, and is intended to meet to some extent the reading interests of people of all ages and educational backgrounds. They are selected with a view to what is already available, so you build on existing selections. They are selected in response to interest shown by talking book readers who like to read this or that, by direct communication-in other words, with the users.

In some area, notably children, young adults, and so forth, in determining what we should record to give them information about the situation in Cuba, Vietnam, space, and other topics of current interest, we consult with specialists in the Library of Congress for subject decisions.