History of the Boston Unit

The Boston Unit is one of 21 local offices across the United States operated by Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic (RFB&D), a national nonprofit organization headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey. The Boston Unit is one of RFB&D's newer units and was established during the mid-1980s in response to a serious shortage of accessible educational materials in the various branches of the sciences and in technological fields. During this time, RFB&D saw a significant rise in the demand for recorded books in these fields, which also coincided with a national shortage of qualified science and technology workers.

Because the RFB&D library lacked many of the technical books that consumers wanted, the organization established new units for the sole purpose of producing recorded textbooks in physics, chemistry, computer science, biology, mathematics, engineering, and other technical fields. Boston was selected as a natural site for a "sci-tech" unit because of its location near leading academic institutions and businesses that would serve as a source of qualified volunteers who had the capability of producing complex texts of this nature.

The Boston Unit's Headquarters

In 1985, the Boston Unit opened its doors at Bulfinch Square in Cambridge, the site of the old Middlesex County Superior Court. The first Boston studio was home to three recording booths and a small staff who recruited and trained local scientists and technical specialists to read challenging textbooks in a variety of daunting subject areas. The studio remained highly specialized for the first several years of operation and contributed substantially to the development of RFB&D's collection of recorded science and technology textbooks.

In the early 1990s, the Boston Unit broadened its activities to record academic materials in new subject areas other than science and technology, including the humanities and social sciences, as well as career-specific subjects such as law and accounting. By the middle of the decade, the studio had expanded to include two additional recording booths, many more volunteers and a growing staff.

By 1995, it had become evident to RFB&D that many students with learning disabilities could also benefit from using audio books to help in reading and were turning to the central audio book library for support.

In recognition of this new segment of the consumer population, Recording for the Blind became Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic, and launched a nationwide educational outreach initiative to reach out to students with learning disabilities and teachers who worked with this group of students.
	A student and teacher from Thomas Gardner Elementary School in Allston, MA

In 1996, the Boston Unit joined this effort and, in concert with educational researchers, participated in studies in local school systems that demonstrated that audio books and a multi-sensory approach to reading could be helpful to some students who have learning disabilities. Soon thereafter, the Boston Unit hired its first educational outreach coordinator and launched its own local program to educate local schools, teachers, students and parents about the benefits of "learning through listening" to audio books.

In 1998, the Boston Unit moved to its present location at 58 Charles Street, in the heart of Cambridge's biotechnology community, and added another two new recording booths. In 2000, the unit began its 18-month conversion to RFB&D's AudioPlus, RFB&D's newest recording technology, and has installed digital recording workstations in all of its eight booths. Since then, the studio has retrained all of the unit's production volunteers to utilize this superior recording technology and has mounted an aggressive recruitment program to attract and retain new volunteers who produce accessible educational materials.

Today, the Boston Unit employs 12 staff members and works with nearly 250 volunteers. The unit budget is approximately $1.68 million ($1 million cash, $680,000 in-kind) and is largely supported by donations from private individuals, foundations and local businesses. The Boston Unit board consists of 14 individuals who represent the business, educational and consumer communities in the Greater Boston area.