West Virginia Library Commission Special Services Division

04/11/2025

West Virginia is proud to celebrate this year's National Library Week! From April 6-12, be sure to visit your local public library and see what special programming and events are happening! And if you don't have a library card yet from your local public library, now is the perfect time to sign up for one. Use our Library Locator on our website to find your closest library: https://librarycommission.wv.gov/library_map/Pages/default.aspx

03/20/2025

The West Virginia Library Commission will have a table at this year's Library Day at the capitol. We hope to see some of our patrons and followers next Monday, March 24th 8 A.M. to 1:00 P.M.
https://generalservices.wv.gov/events/Pages/event.aspx?eventid=614

03/20/2025

NLS patrons: Learn tips and tricks for speaking to a smart speaker and get answers to your questions about the NLS My Talking Books Skill on Alexa-enabled devices on Thursday at 7 p.m. eastern time during this month's Smart Speaking to the Smart Speaker webinar. Get details on joining and find recordings of past webinars at www.loc.gov/nls/news-and-updates/smart-speaking-to-the-smart-speaker?loclr=fbnls.

02/24/2025

Happy 54th Birthday, Gillian Flynn!!!

If you've read any of her novels, like Gone Girl or Sharp Objects, you know her work is the definition of "page turner". We look forward to many more stories to come from this great modern writer. Our patrons can enjoy her writing in Talking Book format.

Cheers, Miss Flynn!!!

02/19/2025

Happy Birthday, Carson McCullers!!!

Rumor has it that our library assistant, Kyle, considers The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter to be a masterpiece and his favorite novel of all time. (The Member of the Wedding is pretty awesome too.) Our patrons can read every novel by this virtuoso of Southern Gothic prose in Talking Book format.

Cheers, Mrs. McCullers!

02/12/2025

Happy 87th Birthday, Judy Blume!!!

With classic books like Superfudge and Are you There God? It’s Me, Margaret, she became a literary rockstar to Generation X. These two and many more of her books are available to our patrons in braille and Talking Book formats.

Cheers, Ms. Blume!

01/27/2025

"We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad." - from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Happy Birthday, Lewis Carroll!!! (1832-98)
Whether you are mad or just think everyone else is, you can take refuge in Carroll's fantastical worlds. Our patrons can follow Alice down the rabbit hole in braille, Talking Books and LT format.
Cheers, Mr. Carroll!

01/17/2025

Happy Birthday, Anne Brontë!!! (1820-49)

It’s not always easy being the youngest sibling (believe me) and especially not when two of your siblings are towering figures in the history of literature (Emily and Charlotte). But Anne was an amazing writer in her own right.

Our patrons can familiarize themselves with this artist, who lived an all too brief life, by checking out The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and Agnes Grey in Talking Books format using ID number DB 21671.
Cheers, Miss Brontë.

01/03/2025

Happy Birthday to J.R.R. Tolkien!!! (1892-1973)
If your New Year's resolution was to spend more time in Middle-Earth, have we got the Talking Books for you.
Cheers, to this Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.

01/02/2025

Happy New Year, indeed!!!

Big news to start the new year: This spring NLS will begin offering patrons a new audiobook player, replacing the first generation of players introduced in 2009. This player, model DA2, has new features including Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity and 28 GB of internal storage. That means DA2 users will be able to connect to BARD, the NLS Braille and Audio Reading Download website, and download audiobooks and magazines, store them on the player and listen to them over Bluetooth-enabled speakers or headphones. Get the details on the DA2—plus a recap of NLS’ accomplishments in the 2024 fiscal year—in the latest issue of our quarterly newsletter, online at www.loc.gov/nls/about/news/news-october-december-2024?loclr=fbnls.
[Image: NLS Quality Assurance Specialist Rob Zebrowski follows a 30-item checklist while inspecting a random sample of DA2s that have just come off the assembly line.]

12/23/2024

The WVLC Special Services department will be out of office for Christmas Eve and Christmas and will return on Thursday. We would all like to wish you a very safe and very Merry Christmas!!!