BOOKS ON TAPE

Books on Tape was formed by D.A.D. and the Librarians from Dorset County Councilís domiciliary library service in 1981 (International Year of Disabled People) as a way of providing recorded books.

Major General David Egerton did a grand job of Chairing the D.A.D./Libraries Sub-Committee on Books on Tape for about 15 years for which we are all most grateful, but had to relinquish the responsibility last year due to family commitments. Alex Gannon, whose insight had originally helped to found the service, took on the task in his stead and has been exploring new ways of administering the service.

Times have changed and the A.G.M. agreed that Books on Tape should be wound up for the 3 reasons following:

1. Books on tape are now available commercially.
2. Local Government re-organisation has resulted in one County Library service in Dorset having been broken into three separate services: Dorset, Poole and Bournemouth. As a result the money available from Books on Tape has to be negotiated with three authorities. Staff from the three services have no Cause to meet except to discuss Books on Tape. The cost of their attending such a meeting is roughly equivalent to the net amount of money Books on Tape can provide each year. Administration is also more complex for us all.
3. Books on Tape is not part of D.A.D.ís core work. In April 2000 we restart work with other charities as required in our charitable objects. We are providing additional staff hours but cannot find time to administer Books on Tape as effectively as we should given the new situation with three local authorities.

To ensure that the capital - some £3,000 remains available for the use for which it is intended, discussion with domiciliary library staff in the three authorities has taken place.

They will make sure that Books on Tape money transferred to them will be spent on

• The housebound and those with seeing difficulties
• Those on low incomes
• The purchase of equipment for use in their homes or stock that is specifically for their use.

Each library service will build partnerships with local charities with a view to increasing the money available.

The domiciliary librarians stressed how good it had been working with D.A.D. over the years. The relationship between D.A.D. AND THE Dorset domiciliary library service has been a happy and fruitful one. They regret that local government re-organisations has made it necessary to even discuss new arrangements. The service will continue to be monitored regularly.

SWANAGE TAPES

We are grateful to the Swanage Branch of D.A.D. for their assistance in running the tape service.

We have managed to continue the magazine and music tapes to our disabled members each month.

Our aim this year is to boost our membership and seek extra help in running the service.

Many thanks to our dedicated team of helpers.

WEYMOUTH AND DORCHESTER TAPES

"Sounds of Dorset"

Our new fast copier has proved to be a sound investment as we have had no production problems this year. The number of listeners has reduced slightly over the year, but judging from the response from some of our listeners, our tapes still provide enjoyment. This reduction has been minimised by the distribution of tapes to both Shaftesbury and Poole D.A.D. via the County Office. Whilst the number of volunteers has also reduced, we are still able to maintain the service primarily due to the extra efforts of our remaining members. These efforts continue to be supplemented by tape items from our colleagues at Swanage tapes and the support we have received from the D.A.D. County Organiser, Gwen Kinghorn and more recently Angela Barnsley.

We thank all the members who freely give their time to keep the service going and also Gwen Kinghorn/Angela Barnsley, County Organisers and Swanage Tapes.