Braille Authority of North America Fall Meeting 2013

Friday, November 8, 2013—8:30 – 5:00 p.m.
Saturday, November 9, 2013— 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (Open Forum, 10:00-11:30)
Sunday, November 10, 2013—9:00 – 1:00 p.m.
Hosted by the American Printing House for the Blind
Louisville, Kentucky

Approved Minutes

1. Call to Order: Frances Mary D'Andrea

Chair Frances Mary D'Andrea called the meeting to order.

2. Welcome from American Printing House for the Blind

Bill Bevin, Vice President of Finance, and Jane Thompson, Director of the Accessible Textbook Department welcomed the Board to the American Printing House for the Blind and provided information about APH's work with braille.

3. Seating of BANA members

COSB and Hadley were recognized as members who had joined since the spring meeting. NBA's new representative was also welcomed.

4. Self-Introductions: Representatives and Observers

BANA board representatives in attendance:

• Frances Mary (FM) D'Andrea, American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), Chair
• Mary Nelle McLennan, American Printing House for the Blind (APH), Vice Chair
• Jennifer Dunnam, National Federation of the Blind (NFB), Secretary
• Susan (Sue) Reilly, California Transcribers and Educators of the Blind and Visually Impaired (CTEBVI), Treasurer
• Judith (Judy) Dixon, National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress (NLS), Immediate Past Chair
• Maryann Bartkowski, Horizons For The Blind
• Darleen Bogart, CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind
• Kim Charlson, American Council of the Blind (ACB)
• Barbara Finkelstein, Associated Services for the Blind (ASB)
• Kim McEachirn, Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired (CCBVI)
• Diane Spence, National Braille Association (NBA)
• Ruth Rozen, Hadley School for the Blind
• Stuart Wittenstein, Council of Schools and Services for the Blind (COSB)
• Nancy Niebrugge, Braille Institute of America (BIA)
• Jackie Sheridan, National Braille Press (NBP)
• Diane Wormsley, Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER)

Dawn Gross, representative from Alternate Text Production Center (ATPC), was not able to be in attendance.

Joanna Venneri participated in her role as administrative assistant.
Peggy Schuetz attended as a special observer from CTEBVI.

Observers:

5. Meeting Arrangements: Mary Nelle McLennan

Mary Nelle McLennan discussed meal, transportation, and other arrangements for the meeting.

6. Board's Liability Statement: Jennifer Dunnam

Jennifer Dunnam, BANA Secretary, read the following statement "BANA indemnifies its Officers and Board of Directors and holds them harmless from all claims of every kind, including court expenses, attorneys' fees, and the claimed amount arising from the performance of their duties as Officers and Directors except for their own acts of dishonesty and gross negligence." (Adopted March 30, 1987)

7. Agenda Approval: Frances Mary D'Andrea

MSC Darleen Bogart moved and Jackie Sheridan seconded the motion that the agenda be approved as distributed. The motion passed unanimously.

8. Chair's report: Frances Mary D'Andrea

Frances Mary D'Andrea read the report, which is on file.

In discussion of the report, a suggestion was made that given the many and varied technical topics with which the Board must deal, educational sessions could be held for the Board so that members will be better informed.

9. Crafts and Hobbies Technical Committee: Camille Caffarelli

Maryann Bartkowski, Board liaison to the committee, summarized the committee report, which is on file.

The Knit and Crochet Guidelines have been sent to the Board for review.

The discussion of the comments received from the Knit and Crochet Guidelines Board review was tabled until November 9 so that there is time for the Board to read the comments.

MSC Maryann Bartkowski moved and Kim Charlson seconded the motion that Joe Wasserman, Anna Dresner, and Marcy Ponzio be reappointed to the Crafts and Hobbies Technical Committee for terms to end in 2015. The motion passed unanimously.

MSC Maryann Bartkowski moved and Jackie Sheridan seconded the motion to appoint Rebecca Blaevoet, Stuart Wittenstein, and Roderick McDonald as consultants to the Crafts and Hobbies Technical Committee until the chess guidelines are completed. The motion passed unanimously.

Braille producers are encouraged to indicate if there are additional guidelines needed in order to transcribe materials related to crafts and hobbies into braille.

10. Ad Hoc Committee on Foreign Language: Ann Kelt

Kim Charlson summarized the report, which is on file.

Results of email motion, 7/21/2013:
Mary Nelle McLennan moved and Kim Charlson seconded the motion that the BANA Board accept the recommendation of the Foreign Language Committee regarding changes that will align the publication with the recently released World Braille Usage, will delete legacy information concerning word division, and will eliminate material presented in the 2011 version of Braille Formats.
The voting deadline was Friday July 26 at noon eastern.
Voting yes: Bartkowski (Horizons for the Blind), Bogart (CNIB), Charlson (ACB), D'Andrea (AFB), Dixon (NLS), Dunnam (NFB), Finkelstein (ASB), Niebrugge (BIA), McLennan (APH), Reilly (CTEBVI), Rozen (Hadley), Sheridan (NBP), Spence (NBA), Wittenstein (COSB), Wormsley (AER)
Not voting: Baugher (ATPC), McEachirn (CCBVI)

Work is being done to correct conflicts between World Braille Usage and the draft foreign language guidelines. It was planned to have the document completed and share the files with ICEB, and also to get it to copy editing. Fortunately the inaccuracies were discovered before this process was completed.

The narrative about charge #238 in the report is not correct—work is ongoing on this charge.

MSC Kim Charlson moved and Maryann Bartkowski seconded the motion that the Ad Hoc Committee on Foreign Language be reconstituted and classified as a BANA technical committee as of January 1, 2014. The motion passed unanimously.

Historically, when ad hoc committees complete a code document, they have become technical committees.

An educator is needed to serve on this committee. The educator position will be a one-year term, for purposes of staggering members' terms.

MSC Kim Charlson moved and Jennifer Dunnam seconded the motion that Marilyn Breedlove be appointed to the Foreign Language Technical Committee for a term to end in 2014 and that Jill Cooter and Joanna Venneri be appointed to the Foreign Language Technical Committee for terms to end in 2015. The motion passed unanimously.

MSC Kim Charlson moved and Maryann Bartkowski seconded the motion that Saralyn Borboa be appointed the chair of the Foreign Language Technical Committee for a term to end in 2017. The motion passed unanimously.

11. Ad Hoc Committee on Early Literacy Materials Production: Bonnie Read

Diane Wormsley, board liaison to the committee, summarized the report, which is on file.

Diane also shared some background about the "Promising Practices" document for the benefit of the newer Board members. Originally, before 2002, the document was created by the American Printing House for the Blind in order to standardize the work of external transcribers working for APH. Later it became jointly maintained by APH and BANA. Bonnie Read is the third chair of the Early Literacy Materials Production (ELMP) Committee. The document has also now been realigned with Formats 2011.

The original purpose was to ensure that those who work on materials for younger children and who are often not certified transcribers, had guidance on transcribing these materials. The Board had affirmed in Fall 2011 that the guidelines developed by this committee should be constructed as a stand-alone document rather than be added into the current version of Formats, and on its teleconference in August 2013, the Board discussed this issue again without changing its position. It is possible that the early literacy guidelines could become part of a future edition of the Formats Guidelines the next time that publication is updated.

MSC Diane Wormsley moved and Darleen Bogart seconded the motion that the Early Literacy Materials Production guidelines as submitted by the committee chair be sent to the research committee to begin the technical review process. The motion passed unanimously.

MSC Diane Wormsley moved and Stuart Wittenstein seconded the motion that the current members and chair of the Early Literacy Materials Production Committee be reappointed for terms to end in 2014. The motion passed unanimously.

MSC Diane Wormsley moved and Nancy Niebrugge seconded the motion that the recommendations in the ELMP Committee report be tabled for the time being so that the committee can concentrate on completing the ELMP production guidelines. The motion passed unanimously.

Discussion next turned to standardized testing.

14. Ad Hoc Committee on Standardized Tests: Diane Spence

Diane Spence, chair of the committee, summarized the report, which is on file.

The committee struggles with some items that are not necessarily related to transcriber issues, such as modification of test items. Much of the information the committee is gathering is not addressed in the Braille Formats 2011 guidelines.

A draft of unit 1 of the guidelines is scheduled to be submitted to the Board in May. The committee would like to schedule a face-to-face meeting possibly in June. Then a draft would be ready for technical review in the fall.  

MSC Diane Spence moved and Judy Dixon seconded the motion that the current members and chair of the Ad Hoc Committee on Standardized Tests be reappointed for terms to end in 2014. The motion passed unanimously.

There will no longer be a board liaison to this committee since its chair serves on the Board.

The committee is asked to share more through the listserve so that documents can be viewed as they are in process.

The meeting was recessed for lunch and resumed at 1:30.

12. Braille Formats Technical Committee: Lynnette Taylor

Frances Mary D'Andrea summarized the report, which is on file.

Background was provided on the publication of the Formats 2011 and of the subsequent development of the errata. There will be a formal errata document for distribution, which will go on the Web site, and the changes will also be made in the publication itself. A version of the text errata has been compiled and sent to Mary Nelle for the Publications Committee. A number of the items require clarification and revision.

The Publications Committee created a punch list of items for making the corrections to the pdf, html, and brf versions of Formats 2011 and for creating the errata. These corrections will need to be made to the master files before they can go to APH to create the hard copy versions in print and braille. The Publications Committee has been working to ensure that the items on the errata list are true "errata" and not simply double spaces, missing commas, or other minor items.

Charge #237 was inadvertently left off of the report template.

This committee needs an educator added to its membership.

[Charge #237 (4/5/2013) To consider and document changes that will need to be made in order for the Formats guidelines to be brought into alignment with UEB.]

MSC Jennifer Dunnam moved and Nancy Niebrugge seconded the motion that Dorothy Worthington and Dena Garrett be reappointed to the Braille Formats Technical committee for terms to end in 2015 and that Cindi Laurent be appointed as chair for a term to end in 2017. The motion passed unanimously.

MSC Diane Wormsley moved and Darleen Bogart seconded the motion that the Braille Formats Technical Committee revisit the proposed seven changes of content and practice to determine whether they should be addressed more immediately in the form of an update or whether they should be deferred for incorporation into the future UEB alignment revision of Formats 2011. The motion passed unanimously.

Peggy Schuetz has been appointed as board liaison to the Braille Formats Technical Committee.

13. Refreshable Braille Technical Committee: Caryn Navy

Jennifer Dunnam, board liaison to the committee, summarized the report, which is on file.

A correction to the report should be noted; the survey will not be hosted on the APH Web site; rather, it will be created using the APH SurveyMonkey account, but will be hosted on the BANA website.

Discussion occurred about Charge #228 regarding contacting the Braille In DAISY group. Because the contact was made and demonstrations about the current uses of braille created from DAISY were supplied, this charge can be considered completed.

MSC Jennifer Dunnam moved and Diane Wormsley seconded the motion that charge #228 be declared done. The motion passed unanimously.

[Charge #228 (11/2/2012) Contact the DAISY Pipeline 2 Subgroup on braille, chaired by Kristian Egli, to learn as much as possible about braille in DAISY and to create a recommendation for the BANA Board about its potential use in North America.]

MSC Judy Dixon moved and Diane Wormsley seconded the motion that because other priorities have taken precedence, charge #147 be declared discarded, with thanks to the committee for their work.

[Charge #147 (10/22/2006) Make revisions to the 1987 Provisional Guidelines and creating some sample documents to be disseminated through appropriate institutions and their Web sites.]

MSC Jennifer Dunnam moved and Diane Wormsley seconded the motion that Eric Guillory be reappointed to the Refreshable Braille Technical Committee for a term to end in 2015. The motion passed unanimously.

Based on the discussion about ePub files, a new ad hoc committee is being contemplated to focus on this issue (see later in these minutes for further discussion of this matter).

15. Report of UEB Task Force: FM D'Andrea

Frances Mary D'Andrea, chair of the task force, summarized the report, which is on file.

She also reported on the meeting of the UEB task force immediately prior to this Board meeting. Methods of getting information out to and support from the education system were discussed. There will be continued communication with the Transition Forum delegates and others. The task force will explore setting up a wiki for sharing documents, comments, and information. The National Library Service for the Blind is looking into creating an add-on certification in UEB for transcribers who are already certified. The task force will consider an additional meeting of delegates for next fall and how to accommodate attendees with the least amount of expense.

The Board next discussed the consensus of the delegates that January 2016 is a reasonable target date for implementation.

The meeting was recessed for the evening and resumed on Saturday morning.

Extensive discussion occurred about the many issues involved in "implementation," particularly with respect to braille for students in the education system. Transcriptions will need to occur according to the education plans of the students, and everything must interface with testing.

MSC Judy Dixon moved and Jennifer Dunnam seconded the motion that the BANA Board affirms January 4, 2016, as the date by which the United States will implement the general use of Unified English Braille. The motion passed, with all members voting yes except Darleen Bogart, who abstained.

There was additional discussion about ways to reach braille readers and how to communicate the word about UEB everywhere.

MSC Nancy Niebrugge moved and Diane Wormsley seconded the motion that charge #233 be declared done. The motion passed unanimously.

[Charge # 233 (11/3/2012) establish a BANA UEB task force, with members to be appointed by the BANA chair, to identify the initial steps to be taken for the development of an implementation plan.]

MSC Diane Wormsley moved and Nancy Niebrugge seconded the motion the UEB task force be charged to lead the development, delivery, and communication of an implementation plan for the US in collaboration with other key organizations and agencies. The motion passed with all members voting yes, except Darleen Bogart, who abstained.

Darleen Bogart, CNIB's representative, commended the task force for its work and particularly for the Transition Forum.

The current members of the task force will continue through 2014.

16. UEB-Nemeth Task Force: Jennifer Dunnam

Jennifer Dunnam, chair of the task force, summarized the report, which is on file.

Those interested in bringing their expertise to the work of this task force should contact BANA chair Frances Mary D'Andrea.

17. Mathematics Braille Technical Committee: Dorothy Worthington

Frances Mary D'Andrea summarized the report, which is on file.

The Board discussed the process for dealing with code revisions/updates for purposes of publication and the Web site.

Frances Mary will seek clarification from the committee chair before taking action on the proposed minor code revision items in the report.

MSC Kim Charlson moved and Jennifer Dunnam seconded the motion that Jacquie Walker, Mary Denault, and Susan Osterhaus be reappointed to the Mathematics Braille Technical Committee for terms to end in 2015. The motion passed unanimously.

MSC Judy Dixon moved and Nancy Niebrugge seconded the motion that charge #146 be declared done. The motion passed with all members voting yes, except Diane Wormsley and Mary Nelle McLennan who abstained.

[Charge #146 (10/22/2006) to work with the early literacy committee on formulating guidelines for the formatting of transcriptions of k-3 math materials.]

With Charge #146 completed, Betsy McBride, consultant, will roll off the committee.

Frances Mary will discuss with the committee chair whether there are additional ideas for changes needed to the Nemeth Code that would lead to new charges to the committee.

Dawn Gross has agreed to serve as the new board liaison to this committee.

18. Ad Hoc Committee on Chemistry: Cary Supalo

Frances Mary D'Andrea summarized the report, which is on file.

This new committee is already working away at the charges and would like to have a face-to-face meeting in 2014.

MSC Maryann Bartkowski moved and Mary Nelle McLennan seconded the motion to reappoint the current members and chair of the Ad Hoc Chemistry Committee for terms to end in 2014. The motion passed unanimously.

19. Music Braille Technical Committee: Lawrence Smith

Jennifer Dunnam, board liaison to the committee, summarized the report, which is on file.

MSC Jennifer Dunnam moved and Darleen Bogart seconded the motion to reappoint Karen Gearreald, Karin Auckenthaler, and Tom Ridgeway and to appoint Gilbert Busch as members of the Music Braille Technical Committee for terms to end in 2015. The motion passed unanimously.

Pete Osborne from the Royal National Institute for the Blind wrote to the BANA chair requesting consideration of adding Roger Firman as a consultant to the committee because of his ICEB connection and international perspective.

MSC Jennifer Dunnam moved and Diane Wormsley seconded the motion to appoint Richard Taesch, Tina Davidson, and Roger Firman as consultants to the Music Braille Committee for terms to end in 2014. The motion passed unanimously.

Ruth Rozen was appointed as the new liaison to the Music Braille Committee.

Discussion next moved to braille signage.

21. Ad Hoc Committee on Braille Signage and Labeling: Judy Dixon

Judy Dixon, chair of the committee, discussed revitalization of the committee. Additional ideas of members were discussed.

MSC Judy Dixon moved and Maryann Bartkowski seconded the motion that Kim Charlson, Miriam Dixon, and Debbie Gillespie be appointed as members of the Ad Hoc Committee on Braille Signage and Labeling for terms to end in 2014. The motion passed unanimously.

The committee will continue work on the signage brochure.

20. Tactile Graphics Technical Committee: Aquinas Pather

Mary Nelle McLennan, the outgoing board liaison to the committee, and Diane Spence, the incoming board liaison, summarized the report, which is on file.

In the report, a proposal was made to add a new section to the tactile graphics guidelines. The Board reviewed the material presented. The committee will make some corrections, consider adding some suggested language about squares and braille cells, and then bring it back to the Board with technical review process. A section number or other appropriate location indication in the guidelines should be included.

The Board discussed Charge #221 and made some suggestions for revising the proposed wording. The revised language will be sent back to the committee and then brought back to the Board.

[Charge #221 (4/28/2012) Craft the inclusion of an item that stipulates that a transcriber may insert a statement in the TN page of a braille volume that the graphics were produced in accordance with the Guidelines and Standards for Tactile Graphics 2010.]

The Region 4 staff were commended for providing braille versions of the examples in the report on short notice so that they could be effectively reviewed at the Board meeting.

MSC Kim Charlson moved and Diane Wormsley seconded the motion to reappoint Allison O'Day and to appoint Janet Milbury as members of the Tactile Graphics Technical Committee for terms to end in 2015. The motion passed unanimously.

Diane Spence was appointed to serve as the board liaison to the Tactile Graphics Technical Committee. This committee needs an educator added to its membership.

MSC Mary Nelle McLennan moved and Darleen Bogart seconded the motion that Dr. Sarah Morley-Wilkins be appointed as an international consultant to the Tactile Graphics Technical Committee for a term to end in 2014.

In light of discussion about the role of "international consultants," some additional motions were considered to categorize some of the consultants for other committees.

MSC Darleen Bogart moved and Judy Dixon seconded the motion to appoint James Bowden as an international consultant to the Music Braille Technical Committee for a term to end in 2014, and to revise the appointment of Roger Firman to international consultant to the committee for a term to end in 2014. The motion passed unanimously.

MSC Kim Charlson moved and Diane Wormsley seconded the motion to appoint Pete Osborne as an international consultant to the Ad Hoc Committee on Signage and Labeling. The motion passed unanimously.

24. Outreach Committee: Judy Dixon

Judy Dixon, chair of the Outreach Committee, summarized the report, which is on file.

BANA will exhibit at the spring 2014 NBA conference, but not at the CTEBVI conference due to a conflict with the BANA Board meeting.

The banner will be used for the Getting In Touch With Literacy poster session. Nancy Niebrugge and Judy will coordinate getting the banner to Rhode Island for the conference. The contents of the trunk need to be assessed and updated. The BANA flyer also needs to be updated with the names of the new members.

MSC Diane Wormsley moved and Darleen Bogart seconded the motion that charge #192 be declared done. The motion passed unanimously.

[Charge #192 (3/15/2009) Develop a process for managing the BANA volunteers, to include communication, processes for utilization of volunteers, and keeping the list current.]

MSC Mary Nelle McLennan moved and Jennifer Dunnam seconded the motion that the disposition of charge #232 be changed from TBA to ongoing. The motion passed unanimously.

[Charge #232 (11/4/2012) Be responsible for maintaining up-to-date information about UEB on BANA's Web site.]

MSC Mary Nelle McLennan moved and Kim Charlson seconded the motion that Nancy Niebrugge be appointed chair of the Outreach Committee. The motion passed unanimously.

MSC Sue Reilly moved and Barbara Finkelstein seconded the motion that Darleen Bogart, Kim Charlson, Frances Mary D'Andrea, Judy Dixon, Jennifer Dunnam, and Stuart Wittenstein be appointed as members of the Outreach Committee. The motion passed unanimously.

MSC Kim Charlson moved and Maryann Bartkowski seconded the motion that Jackie Sheridan be appointed to serve on the Outreach Committee and that she serve as the liaison between Publications Committee and the Outreach Committee. The motion passed unanimously.

Sue Reilly was thanked for her service on the committee.

Due to time constraints, the agenda was rearranged slightly so that more items could be completed before the end of the day.

28. BANA Archives: Frances Mary D'Andrea

Darleen Bogart gave to Anne Rich, an archivist at APH, documents pertaining to the 1984 to 1987 work on revising English Braille American Edition. The committee was ultimately instructed to stop working on that version, but some of the provisions from that work found their way into Unified English Braille. The documents contain many handwritten notes.

The committee is still working on a storage and retrieval system for BANA archival emails. Committee members met with Anne while we were at APH and discussed how best to transfer the data to APH's server.

Judy Dixon will retrieve the emails from the listserve archives.

MSC Kim Charlson moved and Kim McEachirn seconded the motion that Jackie Sheridan Darleen Bogart, Judy Dixon, and Jennifer Dunnam be appointed as members of the Archives Committee. The motion passed unanimously.

29. Nominating Committee: Judy Dixon

Judy Dixon, chair of the Nominating Committee, read the report, which is on file.

MSC Diane Wormsley moved and Nancy Niebrugge seconded the motion that the nominations be closed and that the proposed slate of officers (Frances Mary D'Andrea, chair; Mary Nelle McLennan, Vice Chair; Jennifer Dunnam, Secretary; Jackie Sheridan, Treasurer) be elected by acclamation. The motion passed unanimously.

The meeting was recessed for the evening and resumed on Sunday morning.

26. "Friends of BANA" Task Force: Nancy Niebrugge

Nancy Niebrugge, chair of the task force, summarized the report, which is on file.

The idea of a sponsorship structure for individuals to increase BANA's funding was discussed. Other types of donations could include donations to specific projects. It was recommended that BANA produce an annual report. The aim is to bring in money for the tasks that BANA is doing, rather than adding many new tasks requiring significant administration.

MSC Nancy Niebrugge moved and Kim Charlson seconded the motion to charge the "Friends of BANA" Task Force to develop a plan for the administration of a sponsorship program, to be submitted to the Board at the spring 2014 meeting. The motion passed unanimously.

Nancy Niebrugge, Diane Wormsley, Jackie Sheridan, and Sue Reilly will continue to serve on the task force.

22. Publications Committee: Mary Nelle McLennan

Mary Nelle McLennan, chair of the committee, summarized the report, which is on file.

MSC Judy Dixon moved and Kim Charlson seconded the motion that charge #82 be declared done. The motion passed unanimously.

[Charge #82 (5/11/2003) Investigating the preparation and the tools required to create the electronic version of new BANA publications]

MSC Judy Dixon moved and Darleen Bogart seconded the motion that charge #160 be declared done. The motion passed unanimously.

[Charge #160 (4/13/2007) Develop a "knowledge base" and a process allowing people to ask questions, have them answered/vetted, and posted to the BANA website in an accurate and timely manner. The Board liaison to the technical committee would be responsible for viewing the answers. There would also be links provided to NBA and CTEVH's web sites as additional resources.]

MSC Judy Dixon moved and Diane Wormsley seconded the motion to charge the Publications Committee to continue to develop and expand the question and response system that is already in place. The motion passed unanimously.

MSC Judy Dixon moved and Diane Wormsley seconded the motion that charge #194 be discarded. The motion passed unanimously.

[Charge #194 (3/15/2009; revised 10/31/2010) a.) Coordinate links to web sites between member organizations and BANA and vice versa; b.) Solicit and post profiles of member organizations for the BANA web site.]

MSC Mary Nelle McLennan moved and Diane Wormsley seconded the motion to declare Charge #214 done. The motion passed unanimously.

[Charge #214 (11/5/2011) Explore a new and more effective design for the BANA logo.]

MSC Diane Wormsley moved and Darleen Bogart seconded the motion that 1) an errata sheet to the versions of Braille Formats 2011 which are currently posted to the Web site be created and posted; 2) all corrections in the errata be made to the online versions, which should then be posted with a note indicating that the corrections have been made; 3) the master files be created from the corrections and submitted to the American Printing House for the Blind for production. The motion passed unanimously.

GC The deadline for commenting on the knit and crochet guidelines is extended to December 2, 2013.

GC That comments and modifications will be completed such that the knit and crochet guidelines can be submitted to the Board again for possible approval at the spring meeting.

When the foreign language guidelines come back with the set of changes that were voted on by the Board in July, they will then go to the copy editor. The Publications Committee will address any issues identified by the copy editor, prior to Board review.

The BANA Web site has been completely reworked technically. Most of the work has been behind the scenes, although the organization has been revised as well. The website structure now uses cascading style sheets rather than a frames-based format. This allows much more flexibility and also allows each page to have its own URL.

The Board is asked to submit comments on the web site redesign by December 2, after which the new site will go live.

Discussion of the media for the production and distribution of the knit and crochet guidelines is deferred to the spring 2014 meeting.

As requested in the committee report, a lengthy conversation took place about how to bring the volunteer resources on this committee and the requirements placed on them into closer match. Some strategies regarding documentation of the precise skill sets needed and training of additional volunteers were proposed to begin the important work of dealing with this issue in a timely manner in light of the many publications that will soon need to be revised.

MSC Mary Nelle McLennan moved and Maryann Bartkowski seconded the motion that the current members remain on the Publications Committee. The motion passed unanimously.

Recently, United States President Barack Obama issued a letter regarding "Blind Americans Equality Day" in which he mentioned the importance of braille.

MSC Darleen Bogart moved and Diane Wormsley seconded the motion that BANA send a certificate, in print and braille, to President Obama to commend him for his support of braille. The motion passed unanimously.

23. Braille Research Committee: Diane Wormsley

Diane Wormsley, chair of the committee, summarized the report, which is on file.

Board members are asked to comment on the review process documents by December 2nd.

MSC Diane Wormsley moved and Barbara Finkelstein seconded the motion that the disposition of charge #241 be changed from done to ongoing. The motion passed unanimously.

[Charge #241 (4/12/13) Develop a Board review process.]

MSC Diane Wormsley moved and Stuart Wittenstein seconded the motion that the disposition of charge #239 be changed to ongoing. The motion passed unanimously.

[Charge #239 (4/12/2013) Collect and analyze data during the UEB implementation process. This data may include, for example, demographic data on implementation and/or personnel preparation materials and implementation strategies.]

MSC Diane Wormsley moved and Mary Nelle McLennan seconded the motion that the current members remain on the Braille Research Committee. The Motion passed unanimously.

Everyone is encouraged to place files on the BANAFiles online storage folders so that they can be easily accessed by members of the BANA Board from anywhere.

Electronic braille task force:

MSC Judy Dixon moved and Jackie Sheridan seconded the motion to create an electronic Braille Task Force And Charge it to create a strategy to start with an e-pub file and produce a navigable, DAISY braille file that would be readable on existing braille notetakers such as BrailleNote and BrailleSense devices, as well as on PC-based DAISY readers.

25. Committee Appointments Task force: Paul Edwards

A recommendation came from the bylaws committee to consider how we populate our committees. In the spring, a task force was formed to address the issue, but the work was not completed.

MSC Diane Wormsley moved and Darleen Bogart seconded the motion to reconstitute the Committee appointments task force with Darleen Bogart as chair and Judy Dixon, Mary Nelle McLennan, and Barbara Finkelstein as members.

27. Awards Committee: Darleen Bogart

Results of email motion, May 1, 2013:
Darleen Bogart moved and Kim Charlson seconded the motion that Eileen Curran be named a consultant to the Awards Committee for 2013. Email vote to end Friday, May 3 at 5:00 Eastern.
Voting yes: Bartkowski (Horizons for the Blind); Bogart (CNIB); Charlson (ACB); D'Andrea (AFB); Dixon (NLS); Dunnam (NFB); Finkelstein (ASB); Greenberg (ATPC); Laurent (NBA); Niebrugge (BIA); McLennan (APH); Reilly (CTEBVI); Sheridan (NBP); Wormsley (AER)
Not voting: McEachirn (CCBVI)

The Braille Excellence Award will be presented at Getting in Touch with Literacy Conference at the BANA showcase on Thursday morning.

30. Bylaws Committee: Darleen Bogart

MSC Darleen Bogart moved and Judy Dixon seconded the motion to charge The Bylaws Committee to codify the international consultant position in the bylaws. The motion passed unanimously.

MSC Darleen Bogart moved and Jennifer Dunnam seconded the motion that Mary Nelle McLennan, Judy Dixon, Jennifer Dunnam, and Stuart Wittenstein be appointed to the Bylaws Committee. The motion passed unanimously.

31. Secretary's Report: Jennifer Dunnam

Results of email motion, May 4, 2013:
Jennifer Dunnam moved and Cindi Laurent seconded the motion to approve the minutes of the Spring 2013 meeting as corrected. Email vote to end Friday, May 10 at 5:00 Eastern.
Voting yes: Bartkowski (Horizons for the Blind); Bogart (CNIB); Charlson (ACB); D'Andrea (AFB); Dixon (NLS); Dunnam (NFB); Finkelstein (ASB); Greenberg (ATPC); Laurent (NBA); McLennan (APH); Reilly (CTEBVI); Sheridan (NBP); Wormsley (AER)
Voting yes after the deadline: McEachirn (CCBVI)
Not voting: Niebrugge (BIA);

Results of email motion, October 3:
Jennifer Dunnam moved and Jackie Sheridan seconded the motion to approve the August 20 teleconference minutes. Vote to end Wednesday, Oct. 9 at 5 p.m. Eastern.
Voting yes: Bartkowski (Horizons for the Blind); Bogart (CNIB); Charlson (ACB); D'Andrea (AFB); Dunnam (NFB); Finkelstein (ASB); Gross (ATPC); Niebrugge (BIA); McLennan (APH); Reilly (CTEBVI); Rozen (Hadley); Spence (NBA); Wittenstein (COSB); Wormsley (AER)
Not voting: Dixon (NLS); McEachirn (CCBVI); Sheridan (NBP)

37. International Report

Judy Dixon commented that if BANA wishes to appoint delegates to the midterm ICEB executive meeting in New Zealand May 2014 it should do so very soon. Judy will be attending as ICEB secretary. It has been customary for the BANA chair to attend the midterm executive meeting. $3,000 was added to the budget for the costs of Frances Mary D'Andrea to attend the meeting with Judy.

32. Treasurer's Report: Sue Reilly

The Board reviewed the financial year-to-date and developed a budget. The documents are on file.

MSC Kim Charlson moved and Stuart Wittenstein seconded the motion to accept the proposed 2014 BANA Budget. The motion passed unanimously.

Joanna Venneri was commended for her years of service as BANA's administrative assistant.

Sue Reilly will serve as BANA's administrative assistant going forward.

40. Upcoming Meetings

The spring 2014 Board meeting will be hosted by Associated Services for the Blind in Philadelphia. The meeting will start in the morning on Thursday, April 5, and run all day Thursday and Friday, and then Saturday until 3 p.m., depending on location.

41. Future BANA meetings:

Fall 2014 AER
Spring 2015 NBP
Fall 2015 Horizons
Spring 2016 ATPC
Fall 2016 COSB
Spring 2017 CTEBVI
Fall 2017 Hadley
Spring 2018 AFB
Fall 2018 ACB
Spring 2019 CNIB
Fall 2019 Clovernook
Spring 2020 NBA
Fall 2020 NFB
Spring 2021 NLS
Fall 2021 APH
Spring 2022 ASB

43. Adjournment: Frances Mary D'Andrea

The meeting adjourned at 12:20 P.M.

Respectfully Submitted,

Jennifer Dunnam, Secretary