2020 Teleconference Minutes

Call to Order and Roll Call. Tamara Rorie, BANA chair, called the meeting to order at 1:00 pm Eastern. 

Attending:

Tamara Rorie, National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, Library of Congress (NLS), Chair

Mary Nelle McLennan, Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER), Vice Chair

Judy Dixon, American Council of the Blind (ACB), Secretary

Jessica (Jessi) Rivera Garber, Associated Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired (ASB), Treasurer

Jennifer Dunnam, National Federation of the Blind (NFB), Immediate Past Chair

Frances Mary (FM) D'Andrea, American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)

Cathy Senft-Graves, American Printing House for the Blind (APH)

Tracy Gaines, California Transcribers and Educators for the Blind and Visually Impaired (CTEBVI)

Guy Toles, CIDI (Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation)

Jen Goulden, CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind)

Tina Seger, Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Danette Johnson, Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Cynthia (Cindy) Skandera, Horizons for the Blind

Jackie Sheridan Witterschein, National Braille Press (NBP)

Kim Charlson, Perkins School for the Blind

Holly Bullock, associate member Crawford Technologies

Susan (Sue) Reilly, administrative assistant.

Absent:

Diane Spence, National Braille Association (NBA)

Membership Changes

Tamara opened the meeting by reporting three membership changes:

• Jessi Rivera Garber reported that as of August 17, 2020, ASB has closed its braille department. ASB is no longer eligible to be a member of BANA. Jessi will continue to work there until the end of the year.
• Diane Bergeron has resigned as the BANA representative for CNIB. Jen Goulden is now the CNIB representative.
• Holly Bullock is now the BANA representative for Crawford Technologies.

Nominating Committee

Jennifer Dunnam, Chair of the Nominating Committee submitted the name of Danette Johnson for the office of Treasurer to complete the remainder of the term vacated by Jessi Rivera Garber. Jen Goulden moved that Danette Johnson, Hadley representative, be elected to the position as Treasurer to complete the term vacated by Jessi Rivera Garber. Tracy Gaines seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.

Tamara proposed that Jen Goulden be appointed to the Bylaws Committee to replace Diane Bergeron. Tina moved and Jessi seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.

Approval of Minutes

Three sets of minutes need approval:

• June 15, 2020. It was moved by FM and seconded by Jessi that the June 15, 2020 minutes be approved as revised and distributed. The motion passed unanimously.
• June 29, 2020. It was moved by Judy and seconded by Cathy that the June 29, 2020 minutes be approved as revised and distributed. The motion passed unanimously.
• July 27, 2020. It was moved by Kim and seconded by Jen that the July 27, 2020 minutes be approved as distributed. Jennifer proposed that the following words "is eligible to run for office because" be inserted into the GC so it would read: GC: Judy, while not having represented ACB for one year is eligible to run for office because she was on the BANA board for many years, including serving as chair for five years. The motion passed unanimously.

ICEB

FM reported that the 7th General Assembly of the International Council on English Braille will be held virtually, Sunday, October 18 to Thursday, October 22. The meetings will run for three hours each day, from 3:00 P.M. to 6:00 P.M. Eastern time. There will be live discussions of papers and reports from committees. Papers will be distributed with summaries recorded. Delegates from the United States are: FM, Judy, Jennifer, and Tamara. Delegates from Canada are: Jen, Phyllis Landon, Natalie Martiniello, and Melanie Romer-Noel.

Interested attendees are asked to register. Registration is free and all registered attendees will receive Zoom links for the meetings and materials. BANA will circulate a press release describing BANA's involvement in ICEB. 

General Committee on UEB

The committee was charged to develop language related to the technical aspects of UEB. There was a discussion with several recommendations for change. FM noted the agreed-upon changes. FM moved and Jen seconded that the terminology document regarding the language for math/science technical materials in UEB be adopted as revised. The motion passed unanimously. FM will resend a final version.

Computer Braille Code

Jen reported that the document on CBC has been given to the Publications Committee. It will be finished soon.

Bylaws Committee

Jennifer reported that the Bylaws Committee updated the definition of the transcriber-producer category of membership to read: In addition to meeting all the requirements of membership, a BANA member organization falling into the transcriber-producer category has as its primary purpose the production and/or distribution of braille to individuals, companies, educational entities, or others throughout North America and/or the provision of resources and support for transcription of braille. GC: Working definitions for the four membership categories are fine as modified.

Web Migration

The committee has Settled on Pumex Computing as the contractor. They have been sent a letter of offer, they have responded, and we are waiting for a revised proposal. The estimated time frame for completion is 3 months.

Chemistry Code reprinting

Tamara had a request for a copy of the code. Major changes are underway. Currently, there are copies at APH (20 braille copies in stock). The braille has errors. Print is made-to-order. There are lots of print copies at NFB. Tamara will discuss further with those involved. She will Include Cary Supalo in the conversation.

Provisional Guidance document

FM asked about a revised provisional guidance document that was approved in May. MN doesn’t have the official files. FM will send the files to MN to be readied for the web.

The next meeting is scheduled for October 5 at 1 pm Eastern.

The Meeting was adjourned at 3:07 P.M. Eastern time.

Call to Order and Roll Call

Tamara Rorie, BANA chair, called the meeting to order at 1:00 pm Eastern.

Attending:

Tamara Rorie, National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, Library of Congress (NLS), Chair

Mary Nelle McLennan, Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER), Vice Chair

Jessica (Jessi) Rivera, Associated Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired (ASB), Treasurer

Jennifer Dunnam, National Federation of the Blind (NFB), Immediate Past Chair

Judy Dixon, American Council of the Blind (ACB)

Frances Mary (FM) D'Andrea, American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)

Cathy Senft-Graves, American Printing House for the Blind (APH)

Guy Toles, CIDI (Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation)

Diane Bergeron, CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind)

Tina Seger, Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Danette Johnson, Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Cynthia (Cindy) Skandera, Horizons for the Blind

Jackie Witterschein, National Braille Press (NBP)

Kim Charlson, Perkins School for the Blind

Jen Goulden, associate member Crawford Technologies

Susan (Sue) Reilly participated in her role as administrative assistant.

Absent:

Tracy Gaines, California Transcribers and Educators for the Blind and Visually Impaired (CTEBVI)

Diane Spence, National Braille Association (NBA)

Next Meeting Date

The next meeting will be held on Monday, August 24, 2020 at 1:00 pm Eastern.

Nominating Committee

Jennifer Dunnam, Chair of the Nominating Committee, Submitted the name of Judy Dixon for Secretary, to complete the remainder of the term vacated by Dawn Gross. GC: Judy, while not having represented ACB for one year is eligible to run for office because she was on the BANA board for many years, including serving as chair for five years. Judy was elected unanimously.

Approval of Minutes

Minutes for the meetings of April 6 and 20, May 4 and 18 were distributed. It was moved by Jennifer and seconded by Jessie that the minutes be approved as distributed. The motion passed unanimously.

Committee Appointments

The technical committees have received the appointments package. Liaisons are asked to remind committee chairs who have any potential vacancies that the appointments package is due by August 1.

Annual Meeting

It was agreed that the BANA Annual meeting will be Sunday, November 8 through Tuesday, November 10. This will be a good opportunity for committee chairs to join the meeting to present their reports. Tamara will send a note to committee chairs inviting them to present at the annual meeting.

Spring Meeting

NLS is hosting the spring meeting 2021, assuming that it will be an in-person meeting. It was agreed that the second week of May would be an agreeable date. Tamara will provide more details at the August meeting.

Zoom Meetings

It was agreed that monthly meetings between now and November would work well. The Next two meetings will be August 24 and September 21.

Bylaws report

Jennifer Dunnam, chair of the Bylaws Committee, reported progress on categorizing membership organizations. The committee is proposing four categories: consumer, membership organizations whose leadership is elected by its membership and whose bylaws stipulate that a majority of its members must be blind; transcriber/producer, organizations whose primary purpose is production and distribution of braille in North America; education, organizations whose main focus is the provision of training materials and professional development; and combination, organizations whose braille-related activities fall in both the education and production categories. Judy expressed concern that none of these categories adequately covers the primary braille-related activities of NLS. The Bylaws Committee will take another look at the categories.

The meeting was adjourned at 2:10 P.M. Eastern.

Call to Order and Roll Call

Tamara Rorie, BANA chair, called the meeting to order at 1:00 pm Eastern.

Attending:

Tamara Rorie, National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, Library of Congress (NLS), Chair

Mary Nelle McLennan, Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER), Vice Chair

Dawn Gross, Alternate Text Production Center (ATPC), Secretary

Jessica (Jessi) Rivera, Associated Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired (ASB), Treasurer

Jennifer Dunnam, National Federation of the Blind (NFB), Immediate Past Chair

Judy Dixon, American Council of the Blind (ACB)

Frances Mary (FM) D'Andrea, American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)

Cathy Senft-Graves, American Printing House for the Blind (APH)

Tracy Gaines, California Transcribers and Educators for the Blind and Visually Impaired (CTEBVI)

Guy Toles, CIDI (Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation)

Diane Bergeron, CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind)

Tina Seger, Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Danette Johnson, Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Cynthia (Cindy) Skandera, Horizons for the Blind

Diane Spence, National Braille Association (NBA)

Kim Charlson, Perkins School for the Blind

Jackie Witterschein, National Braille Press (NBP)

Jen Goulden, associate member Crawford Technologies

Susan (Sue) Reilly participated in her role as administrative assistant.

Not attending:

Whitney Gregory, Braille Solutions, Region 4 Educational Service Center

Changes to the Board

Dawn Gross announced that she is retiring from ATPC at the end of June and will no longer be representing ATPC on the Board. At this time, a replacement has not been hired; Jeff Baugher will apprise the Board when there is a new representative.

Appointments Committee

Jennifer Dunnam reviewed the suggested changes to the “BANA Appointments Committee Process” draft. The feedback received during the meeting will be included in the draft, and wording will be composed for Tamara Rorie to send to bana-tech so that the appointments process can start this year.

Outreach Committee

Judy Dixon, chair of the Task Force on the Review of BANA’s Outreach Needs, reported on the task force’s discussion of BANA Outreach. A document titled “Discussion of BANA Outreach” was emailed to bana-l June 15, 2020.

There is currently no chair of the Outreach Committee. Tamara Rorie will reach out to a few members to gauge interest, if you are interested please contact Tamara directly. Hopefully, a chair will be identified in the next several weeks.

Jennifer Dunnam moved and Tracy Gaines seconded the motion to charge the Outreach Committee with keeping the BANA Board informed about the social media activities. Motion withdrawn.

The task force has recommended monthly podcasts, discussion of maintaining the original wording of “periodic” as a time frame took place. The podcast subcommittee will internally aim to release two podcasts a quarter, if that is successful that it can be increased to three podcast a quarter. Kim Charlson indicated that there is an abundance of content ideas but that the production processes can hinder more frequent releases.

GC The wording related to the time frame for any kind of press releases or social media posting will be kept as “periodic.”

The fate of the exhibit trunk was discussed. Sue Reilly indicated that CTEBVI could continue to store the trunk. She has a list of items remaining in the trunk from the 2018 AER conference. We need to maintain the list and the masters of the documents. It is felt that the trunk should be used for storage and any conference materials can be printed and shipped in smaller boxes as needed.

Discussion of BANA’s social media posts took place. Sue Reilly will continue to post appropriate material to Facebook and will now also post to Twitter.

MSC Jennifer Dunnam moved and Mary Nelle McLennan seconded the motion that Charge 287 be discarded. The motion passed unanimously.

[Charge 287: (11/5/15) Partner with the Publications Committee to update the “About BANA” section of the BANA Website.] The charge was discarded since it was unclear. Publications Committee does not write content.

MSC Mary Nelle McLennan moved and FM D’Andrea seconded the motion to create a task force to update the “About BANA” section of the BANA website. The motion passed unanimously.

Judy Dixon will chair the About BANA Task Force with Jen Goulden, Sue Reilly, Guy Toles, and Kim Charlson serving as members with work to be completed by October 1, 2020.

MSC Judy Dixon moved and Jennifer Dunnam seconded the motion that the Outreach Committee be responsible for posting relevant information and activities on social media and that it keep the Board apprised of all such postings during board meetings. The motion passed unanimously.

Adjourn

Tamara Rorie adjourned the meeting at 2:26 pm Eastern.

Respectfully submitted,

Dawn Gross, Secretary

Call to Order and Roll Call

Tamara Rorie, BANA chair, called the meeting to order at 1:00 pm Eastern.

Attending:

Tamara Rorie, National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, Library of Congress (NLS), Chair

Mary Nelle McLennan, Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER), Vice Chair

Dawn Gross, Alternate Text Production Center (ATPC), Secretary

Jessica (Jessi) Rivera, Associated Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired (ASB), Treasurer

Jennifer Dunnam, National Federation of the Blind (NFB), Immediate Past Chair

Judy Dixon, American Council of the Blind (ACB)

Frances Mary (FM) D'Andrea, American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)

Cathy Senft-Graves, American Printing House for the Blind (APH)

Whitney Gregory, Braille Solutions, Region 4 Educational Service Center

Tracy Gaines, California Transcribers and Educators for the Blind and Visually Impaired (CTEBVI)

Guy Toles, CIDI (Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation)

Diane Bergeron, CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind)

Tina Seger, Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Danette Johnson, Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Cynthia (Cindy) Skandera, Horizons for the Blind

Diane Spence, National Braille Association (NBA)

Jackie Witterschein, National Braille Press (NBP)

Kim Charlson, Perkins School for the Blind

Jen Goulden, associate member Crawford Technologies

Susan (Sue) Reilly participated in her role as administrative assistant.

Next Meeting Date

The next meeting will be held on Monday June 1, 2020 at 12:30 pm Eastern.

Braille Formats Technical Committee

Guy Toles, liaison to the Braille Formats Technical Committee, reported that the committee has begun working on the errata to Braille Formats. Their work should be complete prior to the Fall 2020 meeting.

General Committee on Review Process

Tactile Graphics

Mary Nelle McLennan, Diane Spence and Jennifer Dunnam are working to finalize the survey questions. The final survey will be sent to the General Committee on Review Process.

Chess Guidance

The General Committee for Review Process is in the process of writing an introduction addressing the upcoming review of the UEB based chess code. When complete it will be sent to the Board for review.

Foreign Language Task Force

Jennifer Dunnam reported that the task force has met and will be meeting with Cindi Laurent of the Braille Formats Technical Committee this week.

Publications Committee

Mary Nelle McLennan reported that a significant amount of time has gone into preparing the ELMP materials for publication. Issues with simbraille and how the graphics have been inserted into the file over the years are causing delay; CommonLook does not do this type of remediation. The document will not be ready for posting by June 1, 2020.

Diane Spence requested that the Publications Committee review files prepared by the Tactile Graphics Committee to determine if images and simbraille have been inserted correctly. A Dropbox folder has been created. Mary Nelle McLennan pointed Diane to the revised BANA Authoring Guidelines for detailed instructions on how to insert images.

Ad Hoc Committee on Chemistry

FM D’Andrea, liaison to the Ad Hoc Committee on Chemistry presented the updated Provisional Guidance for Chemistry Notation Using Nemeth in UEB Contexts.

FM D’Andrea moved and Tracy Gaines seconded the motion that the BANA Board accept the proposed revision to the Provisional Guidance for Chemistry Notation Using Nemeth in UEB Contexts as submitted. Motion rescinded.

Discussion prior to the vote finds that the committee needs to revisit Examples 25 and 25 Alternate, as well as address capitalization inconsistencies. The motion was rescinded.

General Committee on Unified English Braille

FM D’Andrea moved and Tracy Gaines seconded the motion that the Board approve the content of the position paper “Positions on Computer Braille Code and Braille ASCII”. The motion passed unanimously.

FM D’Andrea and Tina Seger will make the content and mechanical edits, Publications will copyedit the document.

The “Terminology: UEB Math/Science and UEB with Nemeth” document was discussed briefly, please provide FM D’Andrea with feedback by May 27, 2020.

Next Meeting

Chemistry, Outreach, Signage, GCUEB: technical terminology to be discussed next meeting.

Adjourn

Tamara Rorie adjourned the meeting at 2:04 pm Eastern.

Respectfully submitted,

Dawn Gross, Secretary

Call to Order and Roll Call

Tamara Rorie, BANA chair, called the meeting to order at 1:00 pm Eastern.

Attending:

Tamara Rorie, National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, Library of Congress (NLS), Chair

Mary Nelle McLennan, Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER), Vice Chair

Dawn Gross, Alternate Text Production Center (ATPC), Secretary

Jessica (Jessi) Rivera, Associated Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired (ASB), Treasurer

Jennifer Dunnam, National Federation of the Blind (NFB), Immediate Past Chair

Judy Dixon, American Council of the Blind (ACB)

Frances Mary (FM) D'Andrea, American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)

Cathy Senft-Graves, American Printing House for the Blind (APH)

Whitney Gregory, Braille Solutions, Region 4 Educational Service Center

Tracy Gaines, California Transcribers and Educators for the Blind and Visually Impaired (CTEBVI)

Guy Toles, CIDI (Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation)

Diane Bergeron, CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind)

Tina Seger, Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Danette Johnson, Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Cynthia (Cindy) Skandera, Horizons for the Blind

Jackie Witterschein, National Braille Press (NBP)

Kim Charlson, Perkins School for the Blind

Jen Goulden, associate member Crawford Technologies

Susan (Sue) Reilly participated in her role as administrative assistant.

Not Attending:

Diane Spence, National Braille Association (NBA)

Next Meeting Date

The next meeting will be held on Monday May 18, 2020 at 1:00 pm Eastern.

Treasurer’s Savings Opportunities

Jessi Rivera has not been able to get in touch with Chase Bank regarding the different savings opportunities for BANA’s reserve funds. She will continue to contact Chase but also speak with Tamara Rorie about this task.

General Committee on Unified English Braille

FM D’Andrea reported that the committee would like to talk about the position paper “Positions on Computer Braille Code and Braille ASCII” one more time prior to presenting it to the Board for a vote. She also reported that the “Terminology: UEB Math/Science and UEB with Nemeth” is getting close.

Ad Hoc Committee on Braille Signage and Labeling

Tamara Rorie recommended that a position paper directed towards the signage industry clarifying which code should be used be created.

MSC Diane Bergeron moved and Kim Charlson seconded the motion to charge the Ad Hoc Committee on Braille Signage and Labeling with updating the current signage position paper and clarifying the use of UEB. The motion passed unanimously.

BANA Website Integration

Kim Charlson sent an update to BANA-l, please read.

Bylaws Committee

The committee will meet Wednesday, May 6 and 1:00 Eastern.

Chess Guidelines

Jennifer Dunnam requested to discuss the Chess Guidelines at the May 18, 2020 meeting.

General Committee on Review Process

Jennifer Dunnam reported that Publications Committee, Tactile Graphics Technical Committee, and General Committee on Review Process developed a plan for the review of the revised Tactile Graphics Guidelines. Jennifer has sent a draft of the survey to Diane Spence and Mary Nelle McLennan. The committees are recommending that a panel of 6-7 U.S. and Canadian transcribers, educators, and braille users, all with experience in tactile graphics be created rather than sending the revised document out for a full technical review.

MSC Jennifer Dunnam moved and Mary Nelle McLennan seconded the motion that for the review of the Tactile Graphics Guidelines a review panel be put together rather than each and every BANA committee conducting a review: this review panel will conduct the technical and quality control review. The motion passed unanimously.

Outreach Committee

MSC Judy Dixon moved and Mary Nelle McLennan seconded the motion that the BANA Board create a task force to take a high-level view of what type of outreach BANA needs and how it should be accomplished. The motion passed unanimously.

Judy Dixon will chair the Task Force on the Review of BANA’s Outreach Needs with Guy Toles, Jen Goulden, Kim Charlson, and Sue Reilly as members. The task force will report to the BANA Board by June 1, 2020.

Ad Hoc Committee on Chemistry

FM D’Andrea reported that the Ad Hoc Committee on Chemistry met with the Tactile Graphics and Nemeth Code committees regarding the proposed changes to the Provisional Guidance for Chemistry Notation Using Nemeth in UEB Contexts. The committee made several revisions to the original proposed guidance based on the feedback. Please review and be ready to vote on the revised document at the May 18, 2020 meeting.

Publications Committee

The “Addendum to Braille Formats 2016” has been posted to the website, a press release will follow.

Adjourn

Tamara Rorie adjourned the meeting at 2:08 pm Eastern.

Respectfully submitted,

Dawn Gross, Secretary

Call to Order and Roll Call

Tamara Rorie, BANA chair, called the meeting to order at 1:01 pm Eastern.

Attending:

Tamara Rorie, National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, Library of Congress (NLS), Chair

Mary Nelle McLennan, Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER), Vice Chair

Dawn Gross, Alternate Text Production Center (ATPC), Secretary

Jessica (Jessi) Rivera, Associated Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired (ASB), Treasurer

Jennifer Dunnam, National Federation of the Blind (NFB), Immediate Past Chair

Judy Dixon, American Council of the Blind (ACB)

Frances Mary (FM) D'Andrea, American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)

Cathy Senft-Graves, American Printing House for the Blind (APH)

Whitney Gregory, Braille Solutions, Region 4 Educational Service Center

Tracy Gaines, California Transcribers and Educators for the Blind and Visually Impaired (CTEBVI)

Guy Toles, CIDI (Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation)

Diane Bergeron, CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind)

Tina Seger, Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Danette Johnson, Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Cynthia (Cindy) Skandera, Horizons for the Blind

Diane Spence, National Braille Association (NBA)

Jen Goulden, associate member Crawford Technologies

Susan (Sue) Reilly participated in her role as administrative assistant.

Not attending:

Jackie Witterschein, National Braille Press (NBP)

Kim Charlson, Perkins School for the Blind

Next Meeting

The next meeting will be held on Monday May 4, 2020 at 1:00 pm Eastern.

Music Braille Technical Committee

Tamara Rorie, liaison to the Music Committee, spoke with Karen Gearreald. Karen indicated that the international code is skeletal and less detailed when compared to BANA’s code. She will get in touch with Jordie Howell to determine whether the Music Committee’s request regarding capital letters will impact the New International Manual of Braille Music Notation and report back to Tamara.

Foreign Language Task Force

Jennifer Dunnam, chair of the Foreign Language Task Force, reported that a lot of progress was made between the fall board meeting and the winter teleconference. The Task Force met with the Formats Committee to discuss items in need of addressing.

General Committee on Review Process

Tactile Graphics

A meeting will be set up between the Review Process, Tactile Graphics, and Publications committees.

Chess Guidance

The General Committee for Review Process is in the process of writing an introduction addressing the upcoming review of the UEB based chess code. When complete it will be sent to a pilot study group for review.

Chemistry Code

Jennifer Dunnam will speak with Cary Supalo about how the review process for the revision of the Braille Code for Chemical Notation, 1997 will work.

Appointments Committee Task Force

Tracy Gaines, chair of the Appointments Committee, reported that the documents are complete and requested that the committee meet with Tamara Rorie to clarify some of the procedures. After meeting, the appointments process will be reviewed with the entire BANA Board.

Outreach Committee

Tamara Rorie reports that there is currently no chair to the Outreach Committee, Sandy Ruconich was handling two subcommittees. Tamara will check with Jackie Witterschein and Kim Charlson about having a meeting and then report back to the board.

Ad Hoc Committee on Early Literacy Materials Production

Mary Nelle McLennan reported that the Publications Committee is now looking at the files. The four Word files have been merged and there is now a quasi-accessible pdf file. The goal is to have an approved pdf posted by May 15.

Crafts and Hobbies Technical Committee

The Crafts and Hobbies Technical Committee was dissolved at the Spring 2019 meeting, an ad hoc committee for the Knit and Crochet Guidelines needs to be created. To be discussed at the next meeting.

Bylaws Committee

Jennifer Dunnam will schedule a meeting and get back to the Board.

Treasurer’s Duties Task Force

Jessi Rivera has created an outline to be shared with other committee members and will use the outline to create a handbook that will be shared with the Board. She was directed to include all required yearly tasks.

Future Meetings

Jennifer Dunnam, Cathy Senft-Graves, and Tamara Rorie met to discuss the future meeting rotation. The decision is to insert NFB into Spring 2022. Jennifer will create a list of future meetings for review. The Fall 2019 is to be held in Austin, TX, NBA is currently discussing whether an in-person conference will be held; Diane Spence will keep the Board informed.

Task Force for Reviewing Copyright Language

Posting of the Addendum to Formats is in process, it will be posted when Sandy Smith is available.

Adjourn

MSC Mary Nelle McLennan moved and Diane Bergeron seconded the motion that the meeting be adjourned. The motion passed unanimously.

Tamara Rorie adjourned the meeting at 2:08 pm Eastern.

Respectfully submitted,

Dawn Gross, Secretary

Call to Order and Roll Call

Tamara Rorie, BANA chair, called the meeting to order at 1:01 pm Eastern.

Attending:

Tamara Rorie, National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, Library of Congress (NLS), Chair

Mary Nelle McLennan, Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER), Vice Chair

Dawn Gross, Alternate Text Production Center (ATPC), Secretary

Jessica (Jessi) Rivera, Associated Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired (ASB), Treasurer

Jennifer Dunnam, National Federation of the Blind (NFB), Immediate Past Chair

Judy Dixon, American Council of the Blind (ACB)

Frances Mary (FM) D'Andrea, American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)

Cathy Senft-Graves, American Printing House for the Blind (APH)

Whitney Gregory, Braille Solutions, Region 4 Educational Service Center

Tracy Gaines, California Transcribers and Educators for the Blind and Visually Impaired (CTEBVI)

Guy Toles, CIDI (Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation)

Diane Bergeron, CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind)

Tina Seger, Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Danette Johnson, Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Diane Spence, National Braille Association (NBA)

Kim Charlson, Perkins School for the Blind

Jen Goulden, associate member Crawford Technologies

Susan (Sue) Reilly participated in her role as administrative assistant.

Not attending:

Cynthia (Cindy) Skandera, Horizons for the Blind

Jackie Witterschein, National Braille Press (NBP)

Next Meeting

The next meeting will be held Monday April 20, 2020 at 1:00 pm Eastern.

Music Braille Technical Committee

Tamara Rorie, liaison to the Music Braille Technical Committee, reported that the committee is requesting to amend Section 22.3(b) to follow print for capitalized single letters. The Board briefly discussed whether amending this section would impact the internationalization of the Music Code. Tamara will speak with Karen Gearreald and ask that she contact Jordie Howell of ICEB and report back by April 20, 2020.

Ad Hoc Committee on Standardized Tests

Whitney Gregory, liaison to the Ad Hoc Committee on Standardized Tests, indicated that the committee will begin Zoom meetings in May and will update the Board with new dates pertaining to Charge 360.

General Committee on Electronic Braille Translation

Jen Goulden described the function of the committee and indicated that the updated log is in BANAfiles. She urged that any sharing of the document be done judiciously, nothing that this is a working document which is updated periodically.

MSC FM D’Andrea moved and Mary Nelle McLennan seconded the motion to appoint Judy Dixon to the General Committee on Electronic Braille Translation. The motion passed unanimously.

Publications Committee

Mary Nelle McLennan, chair of the Publications Committee, reviewed the report which is on file.

Charges 330 and 336 will be addressed after the BANA website migration. The ELMP documents are undergoing consolidation and will be sent to CommonLook when complete, the final documents will hopefully be ready for posting by mid-May.

Kim Charlson reported that ACB’s and in turn, BANA’s, website migration has been placed on hold. It will be completed when ACB deems it is best to do so. She also indicated that storage of BANA files and publications archives will not be problematic.

Tamara Rorie suggested an offline discussion between the Publications Committee, Tactile Graphics Technical Committee, and General Committee on Review Process regarding the review of the revised Tactile Graphics Guidelines.

BANA Archives Committee

FM D’Andrea explained her role as chair of the Archives Committee for the benefit of new Board members. She has been working closely with APH on how best to archive electronic correspondence such as email, APH has suggested using OneDrive and will get her more information on the process.

Adjourn

MSC Dawn Gross moved and Tracy Gaines seconded the motion that the meeting be adjourned. The motion passed unanimously.

Tamara Rorie adjourned the meeting at 2:03 pm Eastern.

Respectfully submitted,

Dawn Gross, Secretary

Call to Order and Roll Call

Tamara Rorie, BANA chair, called the meeting to order at 1:01 pm Eastern.

Attending:

Tamara Rorie, National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, Library of Congress (NLS), Chair

Mary Nelle McLennan, Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER), Vice Chair

Dawn Gross, Alternate Text Production Center (ATPC), Secretary

Jessica (Jessi) Rivera, Associated Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired (ASB), Treasurer

Jennifer Dunnam, National Federation of the Blind (NFB), Immediate Past Chair

Judy Dixon, American Council of the Blind (ACB)

Frances Mary (FM) D'Andrea, American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)

Cathy Senft-Graves, American Printing House for the Blind (APH)

Whitney Gregory, Braille Solutions, Region 4 Educational Service Center

Tracy Gaines, California Transcribers and Educators for the Blind and Visually Impaired (CTEBVI)

Guy Toles, CIDI (Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation)

Diane Bergeron, CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind)

Tina Seger, Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Danette Johnson, Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Cynthia (Cindy) Skandera, Horizons for the Blind

Diane Spence, National Braille Association (NBA)

Jackie Witterschein, National Braille Press (NBP)

Kim Charlson, Perkins School for the Blind

Jen Goulden, associate member Crawford Technologies

Susan (Sue) Reilly participated in her role as administrative assistant.

Next Meeting

The next meeting will be held on Monday April 6, 2020 at 1:00 pm Eastern with following meetings occurring every two weeks thereafter.

Braille Formats Technical Committee

MSC Guy Toles moved and Tracy Gaines seconded the motion to reappoint Cindi Laurent as chair of the Braille Formats Technical Committee with a term ending in 2022. The motion passed unanimously.

MSC Guy Toles moved and FM D’Andrea seconded the motion that the disposition of Charge 344 be changed from "TBA" to "Ongoing." The motion passed unanimously.

[Charge 344 (11/1/18): Develop an errata for Braille Formats Principles of Print-to-Braille Transcription, 2016 to correct errors in the document.]

MSC Guy Toles moved and FM D’Andrea seconded the motion that the disposition of Charge 345 be changed from "TBA" to "Ongoing." The motion passed unanimously.

[Charge 345 (11/1/18): Develop a summary of items that need to be changed and or clarified in Braille Formats Principles of Print-to-Braille Transcription, 2016.]

MSC Guy Toles moved and FM D’Andrea seconded the motion that the disposition of Charge 368 be changed from "TBA" to "Ongoing." The motion passed unanimously.

[Charge 368 (11/7/19): Work with the Foreign Language Task Force to discuss questions about formats for foreign language, and, if agreed upon as a result of the discussions, to prepare a few revisions to Braille Formats regarding foreign language.]

The committee is to provide a timeline and information on how they will develop a list of errata items.

The Publications Committee will craft guidelines for errata that will help both the Braille Formats and Nemeth Code technical committees.

Discussion of grooming individuals to step in as committee chair took place. Mary Nelle McLennan added this topic to the strategic planning implementation process.

Tactile Graphics Technical Committee

No additional discussion of the report provided in the Spring 2020 Meeting Agenda was required.

Ad Hoc Committee on Early Literacy Materials Production

MSC Cathy Senft-Graves moved and FM D’Andrea seconded the motion that the disposition of Charge 370 be changed from “TBA” to “Ongoing.” The motion passed unanimously.

[Charge 370 (11/7/19): Work with the Publications Committee to prepare the BANA Guidelines for the Transcription of Early Educational Materials from Print to Braille for publication.]

Ad Hoc Committee on Chemistry

Extensive discussion of the proposed update to the “Provisional Guidance for Chemistry Notation Using Nemeth in UEB Contexts” and the necessary review types needed took place.

MSC Jennifer Dunnam moved and FM D’Andrea seconded the motion to charge the Ad Hoc Committee on Chemistry to work with the Nemeth Code Technical Committee to achieve agreement regarding the statement before Example 23 within a one-month time frame. The motion passed unanimously.

MSC Jennifer Dunnam moved and FM D’Andrea seconded the motion to charge the Nemeth Code Technical Committee to work with the Ad Hoc Committee on Chemistry to achieve agreement regarding the statement before Example 23 within a one-month time frame. The motion passed unanimously.

MSC Diane Bergeron moved and FM D’Andrea seconded the motion to charge the Tactile Graphics Technical Committee to review the “Spatial Diagrams of Molecular Structures” section and provide comment back to the Ad Hoc Committee on Chemistry within a one-month time frame. The motion passed unanimously.

The work resulting from these motions will be revisited on May 4, 2020.

Adjourn

MSC Mary Nelle McLennan moved and FM D’Andrea seconded the motion that the meeting be adjourned. The motion passed unanimously.

Tamara Rorie adjourned the meeting at 2:34 pm Eastern.

Respectfully submitted,

Dawn Gross, Secretary

Call to Order and Roll Call

Tamara Rorie, BANA chair, called the meeting to order at 12:04 pm Eastern.

Attending:

Tamara Rorie, National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, Library of Congress (NLS), Chair

Mary Nelle McLennan, Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER), Vice Chair

Dawn Gross, Alternate Text Production Center (ATPC), Secretary

Jessica (Jessi) Rivera, Associated Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired (ASB), Treasurer

Jennifer Dunnam, National Federation of the Blind (NFB), Immediate Past Chair

Judy Dixon, American Council of the Blind (ACB)

Frances Mary (FM) D'Andrea, American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)

Cathy Senft-Graves, American Printing House for the Blind (APH)

Tracy Gaines, California Transcribers and Educators for the Blind and Visually Impaired (CTEBVI)

Guy Toles, CIDI (Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation)

Diane Bergeron, CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind)

Tina Seger, Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Danette Johnson, Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Cynthia (Cindy) Skandera, Horizons for the Blind

Diane Spence, National Braille Association (NBA)

Jen Goulden, associate member Crawford Technologies

Susan (Sue) Reilly participated in her role as administrative assistant.

Not in attendance:

Whitney Gregory, Braille Solutions, Region 4 Educational Service Center

Jackie Witterschein, National Braille Press (NBP)

Kim Charlson, Perkins School for the Blind

Approval of Agenda

Report on the Task Force for Reviewing Copyright Language was added to the agenda.

MSC Jennifer Dunnam moved and Diane Bergeron seconded the motion to approve the agenda as amended. The motion passed unanimously.

One-Time Suspension of In-Person Meeting: Vote

MSC Diane Bergeron moved and Guy Toles seconded the motion to suspend Bylaws section 7.1 as a one-time suspension of the 2020 Spring in person meeting. The motion passed unanimously.

Meeting Contingencies

Teleconferences will be recorded and posted to banafiles.

The Fall 2020 meeting will be hosted by NBA in San Antonio, Texas. Jennifer Dunnam (NFB), Tamara Rorie (NLS), and Cathy Senft-Graves (APH) will work together to determine the order of the next three in person meetings.

In lieu of the Spring in person meeting, teleconferences will be held every two weeks starting Monday March 30, 2020, 1:00-3:00 pm Eastern. Jessi Rivera will send out meeting information.

ICEB General Assembly has been rescheduled to October. Jessi Rivera will reimburse those individuals who have already purchased tickets.

Chairman’s Comments

Chairman’s comments were made during the meeting contingencies portion of meeting,

Web Integration Task Force

Jennifer Dunnam is chair of the Web Integration Task Force to deal with BANA’s website and webpage migration. Kim Charlson, Tamara Rorie, and Sue Reilly will continue to help.

Treasurer’s Report

MSC Jennifer Dunnam moved and Mary Nelle McLennan seconded the motion to accept the Treasurer’s report as offered. The motion passed unanimously.

Task force proposal on placing a portion of BANA's general fund cash into an interest earning account to take place next meeting.

Task Force for Reviewing Copyright Language

MSC Cathy Senft-Graves moved and FM D’Andrea seconded the motion that the disposition of Charge 363 be changed from "TBA" to "Done." The motion passed unanimously.

[Charge 363: (11/7/19) Revise §2.3.6e and §2.3.1 of Braille Formats working with the APH Intellectual Property and Rights Manager and NLS, to bring the language in alignment with current copyright law by the Winter teleconference.]

MSC Jennifer Dunnam moved and Diane Bergeron seconded the motion to disband the Task Force for Reviewing Copyright Language. The motion passed unanimously.

Nemeth Technical Committee

Dawn Gross, liaison to the Nemeth Code Technical Committee, summarized the report which is on file.

GC The Nemeth Committee can move forward with the face-to-face meeting when appropriate.

Dawn Gross will provide Jen Goulden with a list of some of the characters/images that the committee is having difficulty finding Unicode characters for. Jen will contact James Bowden and make introductions. Dawn will provide the same list to Cathy Senft-Graves and inquire about the program APH uses to create print math content.

Dawn Gross and Mary Nelle McLennan will meet and discuss creating the errata for the Graphing Calculator Guidelines.

Strategic Planning (Ongoing)

Mary Nelle McLennan will send a list of the training modules to be created via email. Board members are to respond with additional ideas and names of individuals that could provide trainings.

Discussion on the strategic planning report will take place at a later meeting.

Adjourn

MSC Jennifer Dunnam moved and Judy Dixon seconded the motion that the meeting be adjourned. The motion passed unanimously.

Tamara Rorie adjourned the meeting at 1:48 pm Eastern.

Respectfully submitted,

Dawn Gross, Secretary

1. Call to Order and Roll Call

Tamara Rorie, BANA chair, called the meeting to order at 1:00 Eastern. The following board members were in attendance:

Tamara Rorie, National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, Library of Congress (NLS), Chair

Mary Nelle McLennan, Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER), Vice Chair

Dawn Gross, Alternate Text Production Center (ATPC), Secretary

Jessica (Jessi) Rivera, Associated Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired (ASB), Treasurer

Jennifer Dunnam, National Federation of the Blind (NFB), Immediate Past Chair

Judy Dixon, American Council of the Blind (ACB)

Frances Mary (FM) D'Andrea, American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)

Cathy Senft-Graves, American Printing House for the Blind (APH)

Whitney Gregory, Braille Solutions, Region 4 Educational Service Center

Tracy Gaines, California Transcribers and Educators for the Blind and Visually Impaired (CTEBVI)

Guy Toles, CIDI (Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation)

Diane Bergeron, CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind)

Tina Seger, Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Danette Johnson, Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Cynthia (Cindy) Skandera, Horizons for the Blind

Diane Spence, National Braille Association (NBA)

Jackie Witterschein, National Braille Press (NBP)

Kim Charlson, Perkins School for the Blind

Jen Goulden, associate member Crawford Technologies

Susan (Sue) Reilly participated in her role as administrative assistant.

2. Approval of Agenda

Tamara Rorie presented the agenda, topics added to the agenda include a tactile graphics request, and website migration and ELMP updates.

MSC Jennifer Dunnam moved and Jackie Witterschein seconded the motion to approve the agenda as amended. The motion passed unanimously.

3. Welcome to New Members

Tamara Rorie welcomed Judy Dixon to the board as the new representative for American Council of the Blind.

4. Arrangements/Planning for Spring Meeting 

Jennifer Dunnam submitted information regarding the upcoming spring meeting to be hosted by NFB March 19-21, 2020 to BANA-l. The deadline to make hotel reservations is February 17th, please contact Jennifer if you have difficulty with the hotel link. 

5. (Agenda item #6) Directory Changes/Updates

It has been reported that not all board members are receiving messages sent to BANA-l. Kim Charlson has been working on the issue but indicates that individuals having specific problems may need to work with their IT departments.

Board members are to review the most recent version of the BANA directory and send Sue Reilly any changes by Monday January 27, 2020. Please review your organizations name and provide any necessary corrections, all names need to be correctly reported in the BANA Bylaws, BANA Policies and on the BANA website.

6. (Agenda item #7) Update on minutes from fall meeting

Dawn Gross has submitted the draft minutes to BANA-l for member review. Please review for accuracy and send changes to Dawn Gross by February 5th. Dawn will email the minutes to those members having difficulty receiving BANA-l messages. 

7. (Non-agenda item) Tactile Graphics

The BANA Board previously approved a request for Diane Spence and Betty Marshall to use information from the updated Guidelines and Standards for Tactile Graphics in a tactile graphic workshop to be presented at the Fall 2020 NBA Professional Development Conference in San Antonio, Texas with the usual caveats that all materials are clearly marked "draft" etc. Diane Spence is currently requesting permission to allow the participants to keep the selected print and braille copies of graphics that illustrate the proposed changes. The graphics will be marked "draft" and the handouts as previously approved will be collected.

MSC Diane Spence moved and Mary Nelle McLennan seconded the motion that BANA allow participants at the Fall 2020 NBA Conference to keep selected print and braille examples that show the proposed changes from the tactile graphics workshop. The motion passed unanimously.

8. Report on interest-based accounts 

Jessi Rivera reported that she visited Chase to obtain information on their different business saving accounts and CDs. Jen Goulden, Jackie Witterschein, Sue Reilly, Tamara Rorie, and Jessi Rivera will comprise a small task force to determine which interest bearing account type would be best for BANA. A formal recommendation will be made to the board at the Spring meeting.

9. Marilyn Breedlove appointment to Formats Committee

Marilyn Breedlove was inadvertently not reappointed to the Formats Committee during the Fall 2019 meeting. To rectify that, the following motion was made:

MSC Guy Toles moved and Diane Bergeron seconded the motion that Marilyn Breedlove be reappointed to the Formats Committee with a term ending in 2021. The motion passed unanimously. 

10. (Non-agenda item) Website Migration

Kim Charlson reported that ACB is moving forward with its plans to migrate to a web based server/storage system that will include ample space for brailleauthority.org. After a final decision has been made regarding the supplier, Phase II will commence. Phase II is converting the website from HTML to a content platform (i.e. Drupel, WordPress) that can be managed into the future.

The question of how long Sandy Smith will need to maintain the BANA website arose. Tamara Rorie has the names of two individuals that create websites and might be interested in working with BANA. Kim reported that she spoke with Chris Nagle and he feels that he doesn’t have time for the conversion but could be available for maintenance.

11. (Agenda item #10) Bylaws Update 

Jennifer Dunnam, chair of the Bylaws Committee, summarized the report which is on file.

MSC Jennifer Dunnam moved and Jackie Witterschein seconded the motion that the disposition of Charge 352 be changed from "TBA" to "Done." The motion passed unanimously.

[Charge 352 (5/2/19): Incorporate the "Quality Control Review for BANA Publications" into the BANA Policies.]

MSC Jennifer Dunnam moved and Diane Bergeron seconded the motion that the disposition of Charge 374 be changed from "TBA" to "Done." The motion passed unanimously.

[Charge 374 (11/7/19): Update the Policies and Bylaws to reflect committee changes as of the Fall 2019 meeting.]

Discussion of the various member organizations that require name changes in the Policies and Bylaws ensued. 

MSC Jennifer Dunnam moved and Dawn Gross seconded the motion that the Bylaws Committee be charged with updating the names of the National Library Services for the Blind and Print Disabled, Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired, and Hadley in the BANA Bylaws and BANA Polices. The motion passed unanimously.

12. (Agenda item #11) Report from Copyright language task force 

Cathy Senft-Graves read through the proposed addendum to Braille Formats as it pertains to copyright language.

MSC FM D'Andrea moved and Guy Toles seconded the motion that the language submitted by the Task Force for Reviewing Copyright Language and shared with the Board and dated January 23, 2020 be accepted and sent to the Publications Committee for addition to Braille Formats. The motion passed unanimously.

Jennifer Dunnam will work with Cathy Senft-Graves to draft language for an announcement to be sent to BANA Announce.

13. (Non-agenda item) Ad Hoc Committee on Early Literacy Materials Production Update

Cathy Senft-Graves gave a brief update on the status of the BANA Guidelines for the Transcription of Early Educational Materials from Print to Braille. The document still needs some formatting and the documents need to be combined before it can be sent to CommonLook for remediation.

14. (Non-agenda item) Foreign Language Task Force

Jennifer Dunnam, chair of the Foreign Language Task Force, reported that the task force spoke with the Formats Committee about discrepancies and/or changes related to foreign language within Braille Formats. The meeting was very productive and have come to agreement about items that would be in a new document that would at first be in conflict with Braille Formats but that would eventually be modified in Braille Formats. The next step is to have a preliminary draft of the proposed document by the Spring meeting.

15. (Agenda item #5) Chair's brief comments

Tamara Rorie stated that she is looking forward to being the BANA chair. She is very time conscious and will be starting all meetings on time, please make an effort to arrive on time. She also indicated that she will be contacting each member representative and committee chair for offline conversations and/or introductions.

Kim Charlson reported that a podcast interview with Tamara as the new chair is in the works. The podcasts with Darleen Bogart and FM D'Andrea are also in the works.

16. (Agenda item #12) Adjourn

MSC Dawn Gross moved and Diane Bergeron seconded the motion that the meeting be adjourned. The motion passed unanimously.

Tamara Rorie adjourned the meeting at 2:18 Eastern.

Respectfully submitted,

Dawn Gross, Secretary