(Editor’s Note: Kim Charlson served as an elected member of the ACB board of publications from 1992-1998, and was the BOP chair from 1999-2001. She has been ACB’s representative to BANA since 1998. We congratulate Kim on her election as the first braille reader to be elected as BANA chair in more than 20 years. This is great news for ACB and for braille readers all over the English-speaking world. Thanks to the Braille Revival League’s “Braille Memorandum” for allowing us to reprint this article.)
The Braille Authority of North America (BANA) held its fall 2003 meeting in the Boston area from November 13-16. It was hosted by the American Council of the Blind and held at the Braille and Talking Book Library in Watertown, on the campus of the Perkins School for the Blind.
Kim Charlson was elected as the new BANA chair, and will take office in January 2004. Kim is the first braille reader to serve as BANA chair in over 20 years.
Kim is the director of the Perkins Braille and Talking Book Library, the regional library for braille and talking book services, which is affiliated with the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped of the Library of Congress (LC/NLS). She has distinguished herself as a recognized national and international expert on library and information services for people with disabilities, braille literacy, adaptive technology in libraries, and information access.
Kim serves on several committees for the LC/NLS, the American Library Association, and is a member of the State Advisory Council on Libraries of the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. She is chair of the Massachusetts Braille Literacy Advisory Council, treasurer of the International Council on English Braille, and is an appointed member of the Governor’s Advisory Council on Disability Policy.
Kim is also active in a wide range of consumer advocacy arenas including arts and cultural access, audio description, adaptive technology, civil rights, guide dog access issues and special education. She also serves as an appointee of the Secretary of State on the steering committee working to implement the Help America Vote Act in the commonwealth.
In addition to her many other responsibilities, Kim has published “Establishing a Braille Literacy Program in Your Community: A Handbook for Libraries and Other Community Organizations.” She has contributed to numerous other publications, including a chapter on braille library services in the book “Braille: Into the Next Millennium,” which was published by the Library of Congress. She is a contributing author to the book “Making Theatre Accessible: A Guide to Audio Description in the Performing Arts,” published by Northeastern University Press; and she co-authored a chapter on audio description in the book “Video Collection Management and Development: Perspectives for Multiple Types of Libraries,” 2nd edition, published by Greenwood Publishing Group. She has a master’s in library science from the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas.
Other BANA officers elected include:
Vice-chairperson: Warren Figueiredo (Baton Rouge, LA) serves as the representative for the American Printing House for the Blind. Warren is employed as the Director of the Louisiana Instructional Materials Center, a support service of the Louisiana School for the Visually Impaired. He is active in many initiatives to promote the use of braille, and is working with BANA’s Early Literacy Materials Production Committee to enhance the presentation and clarity of braille formatting and transcription for young braille readers.
Secretary: Mary Archer (Minneapolis, MN) serves as the representative for the National Braille Association. Mary is employed as the braille supervisor for the Minnesota State Services for the Blind. She is the president-elect of the National Braille Association. Mary works with BANA’s Mathematics Technical Committee.
Treasurer: Sue Reilly (San Diego, CA) serves as the representative for the California Transcribers and Educators of the Visually Handicapped. Sue is employed as the supervising program specialist in the special education programs division for the San Diego City Schools. Sue also serves as BANA’s webmaster.
Immediate Past Chair: Eileen Curran (Boston, MA) serves as the representative for the National Braille Press. Eileen is employed as the Vice President of Education Services at National Braille Press. She has served as BANA chair for the past three and a half years.
Two new members have recently joined the BANA board. They are:
David Grimes (Cincinnati, OH) has replaced Keith Tackett as the BANA representative for the Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired. David is a proofreader at Clovernook. He will serve on BANA’s bylaws committee.
Following the recent resignation of board member Jerry Whittle, the National Federation of the Blind named Ruby Ryles, Ph.D., (Ruston, LA) as its new representative to BANA. For the past seven years, Dr. Ryles has served as coordinator of two graduate degree programs (O&M and teaching blind students) at Louisiana Tech University.
The mission and purpose of the Braille Authority of North America is to assure literacy for tactile readers through the standardization of braille and/or tactile graphics. BANA promotes and facilitates the use, teaching and production of braille. It publishes rules, interprets and renders opinions pertaining to braille in all existing codes. It deals with codes now in existence or to be developed in the future, in collaboration with other countries using English braille. In exercising its function and authority, BANA considers the effects of its decisions on other existing braille codes and formats; the ease of production by various methods; and acceptability to readers.
For additional information contact: Kim Charlson, 57 Grandview Avenue, Watertown, MA 02472, phone (617) 926-9198, e-mail [email protected], or visit www.brailleauthority.org.