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Press Release
Digital
Textbook Program Reaches One-Year Mark
Reader's Digest Partners for Sight Foundation
Contributes
to Milestone Anniversary Year
12 November, 2003 (Princeton, NJ) - One year
after launching its revolutionary accessible reading technology,
Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic (RFB&D) is applauding
the financial support of Reader's Digest Partners for Sight Foundation
for helping to make digitally recorded textbooks on CD so widely
available to students with print disabilities.
RFB&D is
the recipient of a $400,000 grant from Reader's Digest Partners
for Sight Foundation that allows RFB&D to create a social
sciences collection in digital format over three years. The collection
currently contains 51 titles and will grow to 190 titles by 2005
and will help thousands of students prepare for careers in a variety
of professions. The grant is part of a $1.6 million award program
administered by the Foundation supporting projects such as RFB&D's
AudioPlus digital talking text programs, that promise long-term
positive impact on the lives of people with vision loss or other
sight difficulties.
Reader's Digest Partners for Sight Foundation
is a Pleasantville, New York nonprofit foundation dedicated to
increasing independence, self-reliance and dignity for people
who are blind or visually impaired. "Our partnership with
RFB&D is a testament to our commitment to helping provide
the tools and resources people with visual impairments need to
increase self-sufficiency and self respect," said Susan Olivo,
Partners for Sight vice president and general manager.
Based in Princeton,
NJ, RFB&D is the nation's educational library for students
of all ages who cannot read effectively because of a disability
such as visual impairment. The organization provides textbooks
and other educational materials in recorded formats for students
with disabilities that make reading challenging or impossible.
In September 2002, RFB&D launched a collection of digitally
recorded textbooks on CD that offered students with disabilities
unprecedented accessibility features that analog cassette technology
cannot support. Since the launch of RFB&D's AudioPlus textbooks,
more than 30,000 orders for digital books have been fulfilled.
Digitally recorded
books on CD allow students to navigate through a book by page,
chapter or heading with the touch of a button, a significant advantage
over analog cassette books that can only be navigated by fast-forwarding
or re-winding tape. Students also can bookmark text selections
in a digital textbook for instant reference. In addition to convenience
and ease of use, digital books are far more portable. Books in
analog format often require multiple four-track cassettes - as
many as 8 to 12 cassettes - for an average textbook. On the other
hand, a single CD can hold up to 45 hours of recorded content.
"The volume of orders
for RFB&D's AudioPlus books that continues to pour in daily
clearly reflects the enthusiasm with which our members are embracing
this innovation in assistive reading technology," said Barbara
Vanderkolk Gardner, senior vice president, financial development
& public affairs. "We credit Reader's Digest Partners
for Sight Foundation for understanding the potential of this new
learning tool and for its investment in the success of RFB&D
members in classrooms around the country."
additional
media inquiries:
RFB&D News Desk 1-800-803-7201
media e-mail inquiries
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