Philadelphia Unit

Directions to the Unit

Unit Staff
All Phones: 610-265-8090, dial extension as indicated

Bruce Haines, Executive Director, Ext. 25
e-mail: bhaines@rfbd.org

Mary McDermott, Studio Director, Ext. 24
e-mail: mmcdermott@rfbd.org

Ginger Murphy, Educational Outreach Director, Ext. 21
e-mail: gmurphy@rfbd.org

Toni Makowski, Director of Development, Ext. 27
e-mail: tmakowski@rfbd.org

Unit Board of Directors

Dennis J. Tessler, Chair
Barry L. Spevak, CPA, Treasurer
Stacy V. Stone, Secretary

*(E) = Emeritus

Unit History

The Philadelphia Unit opened in 1988 as a technology-oriented studio. It was originally located at 36th and Market Streets in the Science Center area of Philadelphia. At that time, more than half of the books recorded were of a scientific/technical nature. There were usually approximately 20 books in progress at a given time.

The studio moved to Bryn Mawr (a suburb of Philadelphia) in 1993. The number of books-in-progress gradually increased to the present rate of 50-60. We increased the number of volunteers and began recording general humanities textbooks. Technical books still account for about 25 percent of our titles and 40 percent of our hours of recorded material. Since opening in 1988, the Philadelphia Studio has recorded over 2,000 texts.