Audio library of the Association of the Blind and Visually Impaired Austria

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Audio library of the Association of the Blind and Visually Impaired Austria
The square logo consists of a black drawing on a white background, on the lower edge it bears the black lettering "HÖRBÜCHEREI". The drawing could be a pen and ink drawing; it shows a strongly stylized owl from the side, only the curved contours of the body, the base of the tail and the wing attached to the body are indicated with delicate lines. Her head is gracefully tilted to one side and she wears headphones with a large headband. Only the curly ears, the large eyes and the beak are shown; the contour of the head is missing and is supplemented by the viewer in thought. The owl is sitting in front of an open book, which is only indicated with a few lines.
Logo of the audio library of the BSVÖ

founding 1957
Duration 12,260
Library type Library for the blind
place Vienna 13 , Hietzinger Kai 85 Coordinates: 48 ° 11 ′ 24 ″  N , 16 ° 17 ′ 29.5 ″  EWorld icon
operator BSVÖ
management Alexander Guano
Website www.hoerbuecherei.at

The audio library of the Association of the Blind and Visually Impaired Austria (BSVÖ) includes audio media for people who cannot read books for medical reasons. The facility is located in Vienna .

history

The BSVÖ audio library is closely linked to the history of the audio library of the Association of War Blind Austria, which was founded in 1957 under the chairman of the Kommerzialrat Hans Hirsch. Their task was to make books and magazines accessible to blind and severely visually impaired people. Since this audio library felt responsible and addressed the war blind, it became necessary to establish an audio library for the “civil” visually impaired and blind people in Austria, which was also done in Graz in 1958 under the leadership of the Styrian regional group of the BSVÖ. In 1960 this audio library of the Styrian regional group became the audio library of the entire BSVÖ with an initial stock of 150 works. The rental copies were made on reel tapes . In 1973, copies on compact cassettes were offered in addition to reel tapes . The works were recorded in the in-house studios of the two audio libraries or ORF radio broadcasts were copied.

From January 1, 1990, these two audio libraries were merged into one audio library under the management of the BSVÖ. For this purpose the Graz audio library was moved to Vienna . From 1992 to 2011 the audio library was located in a side wing of the building of the Vienna regional group of the BSVÖ in the Hägelingasse. In June 2011, the move to a new building on Hietzinger Kai took place.

The holdings have been continuously digitized since 2002 and the production of DAISY audio books in MP3 format began in 2004 . From April 2010 the rental of audio cassettes was stopped.

The BSVÖ audio library is the largest of its kind in Austria and is primarily responsible for Austria, but also supplies listeners abroad.

Production and Membership

Floor to ceiling steel shelves with hundreds of black cassettes with white labels inside
Depot of the audio library of the BSVÖ

The texts to be produced are recorded by speakers in their own recording studio and sent to users free of charge once they have registered. A title inventory of around 9,100 DAISY audio books is currently available. Around 920 audio books on cassettes still need to be digitized. Around 1,500 listeners are provided with works from all areas of literature.

Membership is chargeable. The use of the audio library is not only open to the visually impaired or blind, but also to people who for other medical reasons cannot read a conventional book.

organization

The audio library is run by the Austrian Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (BSVÖ). The operating costs of the audio library are financed by the regional groups of the BSVÖ, the federal government, the federal states, the compensation tax fund as well as membership fees and donations.

The audio library is a member of Medibus ( media community for blind and visually impaired people eV ).

The audio library employs eight full-time employees in the areas of listening advice, cataloging, copying and repair, shipping, administration and 18 freelance speakers. The managing director and director is Alexander Guano.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Audio library, general catalog of audio books. In: www.hoerbuecherei.at. Retrieved December 12, 2017 .
  2. ↑ Audio library, employee of the audio library of the BSVÖ. In: www.hoerbuecherei.at. Retrieved December 12, 2017 .