November 2022

Monday, November 14, 2022, 9:00 a.m. — 5:00 p.m.

Tuesday, November 15, 2022, 9:00 a.m. — 5:00 p.m.

Wednesday, November 16, 2022, 9:00 a.m. — 12:00 p.m.

1. Call to Order: Jen Goulden

Jen called the meeting to order at 9:05 a.m.

2. Welcome: Jen Goulden

Jen Goulden welcomed those attending in-person and virtually.

3. Welcome from our hosting organization: Jennifer Dunnam

Mark Riccobono, president of the National Federation of the Blind, welcomed attendees to the organization’s headquarters. He thanked BANA for the work that we are doing to promote braille literacy and to support innovation in braille technology. He noted that NFB will be starting a Museum of the Blind People's Movement and encouraged BANA's ideas about how braille can be included.

He acknowledged Jennifer Dunnam for her expertise and passion for braille advocacy. He discussed NFB's interest in putting more braille on consumer products and told attendees to be on the lookout for exciting new products featuring braille in 2023.

Jennifer thanked the team at the national center for all of their help in coordinating this meeting.

4. Self-introductions: Representatives and Observers

The following board members were in attendance:

• Jen Goulden, CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind), Chair
• Mary Nelle McLennan, Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER), Vice Chair
• Amber Pearcy, National Braille Press (NBP), Secretary
• Danette Johnson, Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Treasurer
• Tamara Rorie, National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, Library of Congress (NLS)  
• Judy Dixon, American Council of the Blind (ACB)
• Frances Mary (FM) D'Andrea, American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)
• Guy Toles, Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation (CIDI)
• Kyle DeJute, American Printing House for the Blind (APH)
• Tracy Gaines, California Transcribers and Educators for the Blind and Visually Impaired (CTEBVI)
• Tina Seger, Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired
• Diane Spence, National Braille Association (NBA)
• Jennifer Dunnam, National Federation of the Blind (NFB)
• Wendy Buckley, Perkins School for the Blind
• Marie Zaldivar, Alternate Text Production Center (ATPC)
• Susan (Sue) Reilly, Administrative Assistant

 

Not attending:

Holly Bullock, associate member Crawford Technologies

Observers:

• Brie Brown, National Federation of the Blind
• Chris Nusbaum, National Braille Press
• Aquinas Pather, Tactile Graphics Technical Committee Chair
• Patrick Janson President Elect, National Braille Association
• Debbie Gillespie

5. Board's Liability Statement: Amber Pearcy

In her role as BANA Board secretary, Amber 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)

6. Agenda Approval: Jen Goulden

Jen noted that the order of the agenda would be changed slightly throughout the meeting.

MSC: MN moved that the agenda be approved. FM seconded. Motion carried.

7. Chair's Comments: Jen Goulden

Jen announced that Erin Weaver is no longer representing COSB as an associate member. She will find out if there will be a new representative.

Jen thanked Jennifer for all of her hard work to put this meeting together.

Jen clarified for the observers that they are only observing the discussions held by the board. This is due to time constraints. There will be opportunities for questions as time permits.

8. Approval of September Meeting Minutes: Amber Pearcy

MSC: Amber moved the approval of the September 19 minutes. Kyle seconded. Motion carried.  

9. Report of General Committee on Unified English Braille: Frances Mary D'Andrea

FM delivered the report as circulated.

There have been very few questions to the committee since the spring. Although the amount of questions is decreasing, it is still important for the committee to provide answers.

The committee would like the board to consider whether several issues should be brought to the ICEB Code Maintenance Committee for clarification: vertical juxtapositions; potential language relating to the strike-through typeform indicator; and use of the grade 1 indicator before the prime and double prime symbols. The board will receive write-ups with more details about all of these issues for future discussion.

There is still a lot of information online that needs to be updated pertaining to UEB. The board agreed that this committee will have the authority to remove outdated items from the website as necessary. The committee recommends developing a historic document area on the site so that people can have access to some of the material used at the beginning of UEB. FM and Wendy will continue to meet about this work.

The Code Maintenance Committee is still working on the word list of inconsistently transcribed words. GCUEB has submitted a list to them and is requesting that this charge be considered done.

MSC: FM moved that Charge 395 be discarded. Tina seconded. Motion carried.

[Charge 395 (5/6/21): Work with UKAAF to develop a list of words that are inconsistently transcribed or contested between countries that will be shared with the CMC Officer.]

FM would like to step down as chair but remain on the committee. Wendy has been asked to serve as chair. The committee would also like an additional member from outside the board, preferably a braille reader with strong knowledge of UEB math and science. 

MSC: FM moved that Wendy Buckley be named as chair of the General Committee on Unified English Braille. MN seconded. Motion carried.

10. Graphing Calculator guidelines: Jen Goulden

Jen reported that the BRF of the graphing calculator guidelines is in progress. She will make it available to the GCUEB soon. There have not been many changes made besides bringing it into alignment with UEB.

11. Ad Hoc Committee on Chemistry: Cary Supalo

FM delivered the report as circulated.

Sections 1 through 9 of the revised Chemistry Code are finished. The committee is reviewing an updated hard copy of Section 10. However, more corrections are needed to that file before a hard copy can be provided to them. FM later reported that the final files have been sent to APH for production. Kyle, however, reported that the file is not ready to run on the Roland printer just yet.

The committee has only received a couple of inquiries.

They would like to work with Publications to get the Provisional Guidance document on the website. MN reminded the board that there is an error in one of the graphics that has never been corrected. However, as soon as Publications has a corrected file, they will put it on the website.

12. Braille Formats Technical Committee: Cindi Laurent

Guy delivered the report as circulated.

The task force is close to finalizing the items that should be included in an errata. Guy will resume those meetings soon.

Cindi will remain as chair since Diane will remain on the board. Guy will remain as liaison of the committee.

MSC: Guy moved the reappointment of Cindi Laurent as chair of the Formats Committee for another two-year term. Kyle seconded. Motion carried.

MSC: Guy moved to reappoint Tina Herzberg to another two-year term on the Braille Formats committee. Diane seconded. Motion carried.

Jen and Jennifer will send their recommendations for additional committee members to the appointments committee.

13. Nemeth Technical Committee: Dorothy Worthington

Jennifer delivered the report as circulated.

MSC: Jennifer moved that Charge 297 be declared done. Tracy seconded. Motion carried.

[Charge 297 (5/19/16): Work with the Tactile Graphics Committee and the Chemistry Committee regarding any necessary specific rules for Nemeth Code and UEB within tactile graphics.]

The revised and updated Nemeth Code has been reviewed by the board. Individual responses and those of the board review panel have been received.

The review panel did not find any systemic problems with the manuscript. However, there are specific clarifications and corrections recommended by the panel. 

MSC: Tamara moved the following: that the board will send compiled responses from the board review panel, as well as those from individual board members and Publications Committee to the Nemeth Committee for their review; that the Committee will respond to these changes and will not change anything not covered in these submissions; and that the changes be made within the next 30 days. Jennifer seconded. Motion carried.

MN asked that the committee provide a rationale for not making certain changes. The board review panel will facilitate the review of the responses and changes provided by the committee. Publications will verify that the changes they requested were made regarding file structure. All findings will be submitted before the next board meeting. 

MSC: Jennifer moved the reappointment of Dorothy Worthington as chair of the committee until 2024. Tina seconded. Motion carried.

MSC: Jennifer moved the reappointment of Dawn Gross and Cindi Laurent as committee members for two-year terms ending in 2024. Tracy seconded. Motion carried.

14. Tactile Graphics Technical Committee: Aquinas Pather

Diane delivered the report as circulated.

The TG Committee has let the Review Committee know that the supplement is ready for board review. One copy will be available at this meeting for review. The committee is anxious to receive the feedback on the supplement. The committee believes that the thermoform quality may not be as crisp and clean as it should be. The board will try to complete this supplement review during this meeting.

The committee requested that the disposition of Charge 402 be changed from TBA to Ongoing. Discussion was had about whether or not the charge should be declared as Done, but the committee may need to make changes based on the board review.  

MSC: Diane moved that Charge 402 be changed from TBA to Ongoing. Jennifer seconded. Motion carried.

[Charge 402 (5/20/22): Begin the work of revising the Graphics Supplement so that 1) the guidance and examples for nontechnical material are aligned with Unified English Braille; and 2) the guidance and examples for mathematical and technical material are provided both in Nemeth Code and in UEB versions.]

Regarding the 2022 Guidelines, the committee has submitted to Publications all of the files with the exception of the index.

MSC: Diane moved that Charge 407 be changed from TBA to Ongoing. Mary Nelle seconded. Motion carried.

[Charge 407 (5/20/22): Work with Publications to prepare the final files of TG Guidelines for publication.]

The committee requests $5000 to transcribe the guidelines into braille and $750 to transcribe the supplement. Reimbursement requests will be submitted before the end of the fiscal year.

Diane will remain as liaison of the committee.

MSC: Diane moved that Susan Osterhaus and Betty Marshall be reappointed for two-year terms ending in 2024. Guy seconded. Motion carried.

Diane raised the question of who will produce the final versions of the supplement and guidelines when the time comes. It is best to find a producer who can produce all three mediums (microcapsule, thermoform and Tiger). There are 35 examples which will need all three of these forms.

MSC: Diane moved that a task force be formed to investigate production sources for the Tactile Graphics supplement and report findings to the board; and to appoint Guy, Tracy, Diane, and Kyle as members. Mary Nelle seconded. Motion carried.

This task force will be separate from the Tactile Graphics Committee and will generate an independent report for the board.  

MSC: Diane moved to charge the task force on the tactile graphics guidelines supplement to investigate the production of the document. Danette seconded. Motion carried.   

The board would like a proposal from the group by December 15.

15. Music Braille Technical Committee: Karen Gearreald

Tamara delivered the report as circulated.

There have been no inquiries to the committee in the past six months.

Karen would like to step down as committee chair at the end of 2023. She will continue to be a committee member.

We may need to eventually find a replacement for Christina Davidson. Tina's family should receive condolences from the board. Tamara can provide additional information for Mary Nelle.

MSC: Tamara moved that Ka Kit Tam be appointed to the committee for a term ending in 2024. Guy seconded. Motion carried.

MSC: Tamara moved that Stephanie Pieck be reappointed for another 2-year term ending in 2024. Tracy seconded. Motion carried.

16. International Council on English Braille: Frances Mary D'Andrea

The midterm meeting was hosted in June by Braille Literacy Canada and was held virtually. It was a successful meeting, and there were a lot of observers. There were sessions from the various committees, as well as interesting presentations.

FM reminded people to subscribe to ICEB Announce.

The ICEB Music Committee still needs a representative from the U.S. Jen will follow up with Karen Gearreald regarding her suggestions. Tracy also suggested Bill McCann as a possibility. It was decided that Karen would be contacted first. We will wait for Karen's suggestion before contacting Bill.

ICEB is looking for a host for the 2024 meeting.

Judy noted that the ICEB representatives from the United States and Canada are not listed in the directory. It was decided that even though the Canadian representatives represent Braille Literacy Canada, they should still be included in the BANA directory.

17. Committee on Electronic Braille Translation: Jen Goulden

Jen delivered the report as circulated.

The committee is in the process of updating the status log. The test document will also be updated. Jen reminded the board that the status log can be shared within our organizations with the understanding that this is a draft document and should not be taken as official BANA guidance.

18. Publications Committee: Mary Nelle McLennan

Mary Nelle delivered the report as circulated.

Now that the new website is up and running, the information about the Braille Excellence Award can be updated.

The completed website migration also means that the creation of the archival code section can move forward.

Justin Laffey has agreed to produce the accessible PDFs of the documents under revision. The copyedit of the Tactile Graphics guidelines is in progress. Mary Nelle will send Diane the queries for the committee's response. She expects to send this by the middle of December. PDF creation will begin in January, and Publications would like for the files to be online by March.

Jen let Mary Nelle know that the copyeditor, Monica Williams, who has worked on the Tactile Graphics Guidelines has agreed to copy edit the Nemeth Code and Chemistry Code.

Publications has done file structure assessments on the available Nemeth Code and Chemistry Code files and has given feedback to the committees. They are ready to work with the committees as needed.

FM noted that she has never received a report about the chemistry files, and Mary Nelle will send this to her.

Publications has requested $8000 to cover production costs for the Nemeth and Chemistry Codes.

The committee continues to work with the website migration task force on the new website.

19. Task Force on Web Migration: Jennifer Dunnam

Jennifer delivered the report as circulated.

MSC: Mary Nelle moved that the disposition of Charge 384 be changed to done. Tamara seconded. Motion carried.

[Charge 384 (3/24/20): Deal with BANA’s website and webpage migration.]

MSC: Tamara moved that the disposition of Charge 385 be changed to done. FM seconded. Motion carried.

[Charge 385 (10/5/20): Manage the migration of all of BANA’s listservs To the groups.io platform.]

MSC: Judy moved that the disposition of Charge 386 be changed to done. FM seconded. Motion carried.

[Charge 386 (10/5/20): Determine a modern, robust repository for storage and usage for BANA’s electronic files and ensure that BANA’s files are moved to it.]

MSC: Jennifer moved to charge the bylaws committee to incorporate the Dropbox protocols into the BANA policies. Tamara seconded. Motion carried.

MSC: Jennifer moved that the web migration task force be disbanded. Kyle seconded. Motion carried.

The task force recommended creating a general committee to work closely with Publications to keep the website and its associated documentation updated.

MSC: Tina moved to create a General Committee on Digital Assets to work closely with Publications to focus on the oversight of the website, file storage, and listservs. Kyle seconded. Motion carried.

MSC: Jennifer moved to appoint Sue as committee chair, Tamara, Jen, Jennifer, and Mary Nelle as members of the committee. Amber seconded. Motion carried.

MSC: Jennifer moved that Charge 396 be discarded. Tamara seconded. Motion carried.

[Charge 396 (5/6/21): Create documentation on how to update content and perform other maintenance on the BANA website.]

MSC: Jennifer moved that the Digital Assets Committee be charged with creating documentation on how to update content and perform other maintenance on the BANA website. Kyle seconded. Motion carried.

MSC: Jennifer moved that the Digital Assets Committee be charged with overseeing and maintain the infrastructure for BANA listservs, website platform and file storage. Kyle seconded. Motion carried.

MSC: Jennifer moved to charge the Digital Assets Committee to work with the Publications Committee to develop the process for web updates. Tamara seconded. Motion carried.

MSC: Jennifer moved to charge the bylaws committee to amend the policies to reflect the responsibilities of the Digital Assets Committee. Guy seconded. Motion carried.

Jennifer thanked all of the people who helped to convert position papers from EBAE to UEB in the summer.

20. Foreign Language Task Force: Jennifer Dunnam

Jennifer delivered the report as circulated.

The task force is prepared to work with Perkins School for the Blind to update World Braille Usage. There is an email address for inquiries about World Braille Usage, but there is uncertainty about who will be able to answer the questions.

Wendy noted that Kim Charlson has suggested forming a three-person panel to work on keeping World Braille Usage updated. Kim also suggested adding a request form to the Perkins website for the World Braille Usage manual.

The board believed that this update would be a great task for the World Braille Council. Jen agreed to reach out to Kim to suggest this as a priority for the World Braille Council.

MSC: Jennifer moved to discard Charge 367. FM seconded. Motion carried.

[Charge 367 (11/7/19): Work with Perkins to update the World Braille Usage webpage once the Foreign Language Guidelines are approved.]

The task force is ready to assist Publications where needed now that the final files for the new guidelines are ready for posting. Jen and Mary Nelle will make the final preparations for posting the files.

MSC: Jennifer moved that Charge 406 be declared done. Tracy seconded. Motion carried.

[Charge 406 (5/20/22): Work with the Publications committee to prepare final files of the Guidelines for Braille Transcription of Languages Other Than English.]

Discussion was had about disbanding this task force and replacing it with a committee who can answer questions about the new guidelines?.

MSC: Jennifer moved that the foreign language task force be disbanded. FM seconded. Motion carried.

MSC: Jennifer moved the creation of a General Committee on languages Other than English. FM seconded. Motion carried.

MSC: Jennifer moved to charge the General Committee on Languages Other Than English to answer questions regarding the guidelines for non-English transcription. Kyle seconded. Motion carried.

Sue will create a question box to accompany the new guidelines on the website.

21. BANA Appointments Committee: Tracy Gaines

Tracy delivered the report as circulated.

The committee has provided suggestions for both the standardized test committee and the Committee on Music Braille.

Tracy asked for feedback on the changes that were made to the new committee member request form.

In the recommendations section of the form, there needs to be a question added asking if someone has a second recommendation rather than having a new form generated. Jennifer will fix this in the form.

MSC: Tamara moved that the board approve the BANA Committee Composition Status Form pending the modification made by Jennifer. Kyle seconded. Motion carried.

Tracy moved and Guy seconded that we changed Charge 394 to done. Motion carried.

22. General Committee on Review Process: Jennifer Dunnam

Jennifer delivered the report as circulated.

MSC: Jennifer moved to declare Charge 404 done. Guy seconded. Motion carried.

[Charge 404 (5/20/22): Work with Publications and TG to recommend the process for review of the Tactile Graphics Supplement.]

Jennifer would like to step down as chair after the completion of the Chemistry Code review. We will also review the overall structure of this committee at that time.

23. Bylaws Committee: Jennifer Dunnam

Jennifer looks forward to focusing on bylaws in the near future now that many charges from other committees have been declared done.

24. Ad Hoc Committee on Braille Signage and Labeling: Kim Charlson

Jen delivered the report as circulated.

The committee continues to respond to inquiries.

Kim Charlson recommended that the architectural standards be revisited to determine whether any braille updates are needed.

Kim recommended that Charge 347 be transferred to World Braille Council.

MSC: Jennifer moved that Charge 347 be declared as done. Judy seconded. Motion carried.

[Charge 347 (11/1/18): With content approval from the BANA Board, contact the International Code Council to provide guidance on changing their braille signage requirements to conform with Unified English braille.]

General Consensus: Jen will write to Kim Charlson, chair of World Braille Council, on behalf of BANA with a request to take on this charge.

MSC: Jen moved that Charge 379 be changed to done. Kyle seconded. Motion carried.

[Charge 379 (5/4/20): Update the current signage position paper and clarify its use.]

MSC: Judy moved to charge the signage committee to update the Size and Spacing of Braille position paper to reflect updated standards, titles and numbering. Tracy seconded. Motion carried.

Jennifer requested a deadline on this update because this document is frequently distributed. Judy agreed to have this updated by January.

The board discussed the signage guidelines in detail and will provide feedback to the committee. Jen will try to set up a meeting with the signage committee as soon as possible so that the document can be approved by December.

25. Ad Hoc Committee on Standardized Tests: Diane Spence

Diane delivered the report as circulated.

MSC: Diane moved the appointment of Betty Marshall, Allison O'Day, Cristin Lockwood and Sara Larkin as members of the committee. Tracy seconded. Motion carried.

Discussion was had by the board about the length of time that these members will serve, and it was agreed that they will remain on the committee until it is disbanded.

Because Diane is remaining on the board, she will remain the board liaison.

Diane will notify the new members of the standardized test committee of their appointment. Tracy will work with Jen to contact the nominees who were not chosen for this committee.

26. Outreach Committee: Marie Zaldivar

Marie delivered the report as circulated.

The committee decided that BANA will exhibit at conferences on a case-by-case basis. They recommend having a schedule of conferences that can be discussed by the board as needed.

Mary Nelle raised the point that a protocol needs to be developed for any future exhibits that may happen. She can provide the report written in 2018 to the outreach committee for review. This will help develop procedures moving forward.

One suggestion was made that BANA could pay for a spot in conference programs, which would help to let people know about our work. Another suggestion was that BANA could participate in conferences as a presenter which doesn't require as much expense and time as manning an exhibit.

The committee has decided that podcasts are still feasible, but it was recommended that the committee host two podcasts a year in conjunction with the two semiannual meetings. Danette pointed out that we are currently paying for monthly podcast hosting services. The committee will continue to investigate the logistics of creating either a semiannual or quarterly podcast.

Sue reported that there are 547 subscribers to BANA Announce.

27. Ad Hoc Committee on eBRF: Tamara Rorie

The members of this committee believe that it may be useful for BANA to have a more formal role in developing standards of eBRF. This would be in addition to the work being done by APH and others. This committee suggested that BANA could work on a position paper or some other form of endorsement. The suggestion was also made that there should be official BANA representation on the DAISY committee also working on this issue.

Jennifer made the point that any change in file standards should enhance how users interface with content, not to change BANA’s formatting guidelines and codes. For example, will digital tactile graphics comply with our guidelines? What is an acceptable level of quality for electronic graphics? These are some questions to be considered.

Diane also raised the concern about the software used to create all of these graphics and making sure that these companies comply with whatever standards are developed.

Tina proposed having William Freeman return to give the board an update. We could listen to the presentation with the goal of thinking about what BANA's role should be in this area.

Jen will reach out to William to see if he would have a discussion with the board about getting more officially involved, as well as give his update.

Judy mentioned a concern with ASCII braille and discussed some difficulty of implementing braille support in the NLS BARD app for Android devices. This illustrates how BANA needs to broaden its focus from hard copy braille and is a reminder of the importance of braille in an electronic context. Many of these problems with software implementation for braille may occur because of confusion around the term “computer braille” and the old Computer Braille Code.

Jennifer suggested that perhaps BANA could put information on the website specifically for braille software manufacturers (Google, Apple, etc.).

This should be a different document from the position paper that already exists.

MSC: Kyle moved that the EBRF committee be charged with developing a short document to address confusion that   developers and manufacturers have about the term computer braille by the spring 2023 meeting. Jennifer seconded. Motion carried.

27. Miscellaneous

27.1: Kyle and Judy gave the following update on APH’s production of The Rules of UEB codebook. The document will not include updates. The files are formatted as 25 lines by 30 cells, and the book will be produced on 8.5 by 11 inch paper. Quota funds can be used to purchase these books.

Jen received a question from the state of New York about whether other states have formed a braille advisory council. Jen will connect FM with this person.

28. International Initiatives: Debbie Gillespie

Debbie let us know that Toronto had a fully accessible braille voting process in the municipal election this year. This allowed voters who are blind to vote by mail. They received a print/braille packet including braille instruction sheets, a candidate list, a voter declaration form, and a ballot. The necessary signature lines were raised. The quality of the braille was good. The only problem that Debbie noted was that the materials were produced in EBAE.

Other municipalities in Canada have shown an interest in this system.

We briefly discussed the World Blind Union for the benefit of any new board members. The World Braille Council is a committee of the World Blind Union. Kim Charlson is the chair. Judy is the vice chair. It's difficult for this committee to accomplish much because it has never been funded. 

The ICEB Executive Committee heard about research in their last meeting from a group studying braille reading. Preliminary findings recommended the streamlining of some of the rules relating to contractions that bridge meaningful parts of words, such as prefixes and suffixes. Judy will ask if this presentation can be shared with the BANA board. However, it was decided that Judy would like for the Code Maintenance Committee to have a chance to discuss it before sharing it with this board for input. A similar presentation by individuals from this group is available online from Braille Literacy Canada.

As part of an ICEB initiative, Jen has put together a draft document for people desiring to create a new braille code. She is hoping to submit this draft to the Executive Committee soon.  

29. Secretary's Report: Amber Pearcy

No email votes were recorded since the last meeting.

30. Treasurer's Report: Danette Johnson

Danette delivered the report as circulated.

While we are not required to have a financial review in the District of Columbia, Danette recommended that we have one; it has been difficult to find an accountant to perform a review. We could consider having a finance committee to accomplish this. There are some unexplored options under way to find an accountant. Another suggestion was that the financial officers of each member organization could take turns reviewing the accounts. Sue and Tracy also have possible resources. The bylaws will be modified to reflect the decision that is made.

The suggestion was made to put the Dropbox, Pantheon, and domain hosting expenses into a separate budget category called digital assets.

The Foreign Language line item will be changed to Languages Other Than English.

We will add $1000 to the outreach budget in case a need arises for any exhibits, poster sessions or other materials.

We will budget $10000 for Publications in case extra support is needed for Tactile Graphics and Nemeth.

The Awards Committee will have a budget of $300 in anticipation of awards given in 2023.

MSC: Danette moved the approval of the 2023 budget as amended. Tamara seconded. Motion carried.

31. Certificates of Appreciation: Mary Nelle McLennan

Mary Nelle will send certificates of appreciation to FM for her work as chair of GCUEB and Jennifer for her work as chair of the Foreign Language Task Force.

Sandy Smith will also need a gift and a certificate for her work on the website.

32. Nominating Committee: Tamara Rorie

The slate of officers has been submitted as Jen Goulden, Chair, (2nd year) Mary Nelle McLennan, Vice Chair, (4th year) Amber Pearcy, Secretary, (2nd year) Danette Johnson, Treasurer (3rd year).

No other nominations were brought forth.

MSC: Tamara moved that the slate of officers be accepted by acclamation. Judy seconded. Motion carried. 

33. Directory Update: Sue Reilly

The directory is now in the Dropbox to be accessed by the board. Sue will update the directory when the new committee assignments take effect.

34. BANA's Listservs: Sue Reilly

Sue will update the listservs so that the new committee members are added.

35. BANA's archives: Frances Mary D'Andrea

FM will print the agendas from the virtual meetings to send to the archives.

FM will approach the new archivist at APH to discuss the BANA archives.

Judy has a large amount of BANA and ICEB materials and would like to figure out what to do with them. She and FM agreed that it would be best to go through the box before deciding what to send to APH.

36. Press Releases: Mary Nelle McLennan

MN will prepare a press release summarizing the meeting, including the election of officers.

37. Unfinished/continued Business

37.1 In resuming our conversation about exhibits and/or poster sessions, there is disagreement about whether we should exhibit at various conferences. Some members felt that most people at conferences such as CTEBVI and Getting in Touch with Literacy already know about BANA; however, others feel that it is still valuable to provide people at these events with information about BANA's mission, function, and process for establishing guidelines. FM made the point that we shouldn't assume that people in the field know how BANA works. Professionals in the field of braille appreciate seeing BANA representation at events like this. It could also be a way to find new people to serve on committees.

Others believe that providing information in a conference packet or mingling at a conference and talking about BANA could be more useful.

MN pointed out that a poster session is often a time to have conversations with people and to answer questions. Others believe that the best policy is to consider these invitations on a case by case basis. This aligns with the recommendation from the Outreach Committee.

MSC: Judy moved that BANA have a poster session at the upcoming CTEBVI conference because it has no cost, and Sue Reilly can coordinate and facilitate the session. Mary Nelle seconded. Motion carried with one member opposing.

Jen and Sue will work to prepare materials for the poster session. Sue will be able to use a poster from a previous session. She will also provide print and braille flyers.

The Getting in Touch with Literacy conference is having a series of virtual sessions. BANA has been invited to host an hour-long break-out room at a cost of $250.

General Consensus: The board agrees that we should not pursue this because of the cost.

MN suggested that the Outreach Committee should consider whether BANA should do a poster session for Getting in Touch with Literacy in 2023.

Other ideas for outreach were discussed. Jen suggested the possibility of BANA hosting a virtual Zoom workshop or open forum to network with people to answer questions. The guidance for the discussion topics would need to be carefully considered. We need to consider who our audience might be and who we want to reach.

If the goal is to find people for committees, we could distribute a survey to collect names of interested parties.

The same questions should be asked about podcast regarding audience and goals.

We could use BANA Announce to let people know about BANA's social media presence. A podcast and a poster can be avenues of promoting our social media presence, too.

The press releases should be updated to include all of the social media information. 

Guy pointed out that there seems to be a need for clarification about the math/science guidance, and we can play a role in providing clarification.

We could also send a short survey to BANA Announce to see what people are interested in hearing more about from BANA.

The document that Mary Nelle has sent the board has a list of the handouts that we currently use.

The Outreach Committee could also use this list as a starting point for deciding what needs to be updated.

General Consensus: The Outreach Committee will submit a report to the board by April detailing potential topics and ideas for improving outreach, including the survey results received from BANA Announce.

37.2 The Tactile Graphics supplement was reviewed by all board members attending in person.

MSC: Tamara moved that the board approve the tactile graphics supplement. Guy seconded. Motion carried with three abstentions.

38. Recognition of Tamara: Jennifer Dunnam

Jennifer thanked Tamara for her decisive leadership in the challenging time of COVID-19. Some of her accomplishments during this time included: approving revised section of Formats; developing a new process for appointment of BANA committee members; approval of new guidelines for Braille Literacy for Young Readers; implementing monthly board meetings.

Jennifer presented her with an elegant glass fan with print engraving.

39. Upcoming Zoom Meetings: Jen Goulden

The next teleconference will be on Monday December 12 from 1:00-2:00 p.m. Eastern.

The meeting in January will be on January 23, 2023 from 1:00-2:00 P.M. Eastern..

We will wait until the January meeting to make a decision about February, March, and April.

40. Spring 2023 Meeting: Tamara Rorie

The meeting will be held May 8, 9 and 10 at the Library of Congress. Tamara will send hotel information within the next month.

We will be sharing lunch and dinner with the DAISY consortium, who will also be meeting at the same time.

There will hopefully be a joint EBRF session with the DAISY folks.

There will be an NLS-hosted dinner one evening. We will also have the opportunity to see either a play or an opera at the Kennedy Center. It may also be possible to arrange a Smithsonian visit.

There will be a tour of the capitol and of the Library of Congress. Tamara also encouraged braille producers to tour NLS the day after the BANA meeting.

41. Future Spring and Fall Meetings:

We should ask NBA and APH whether either of them could host in November 2023 meeting. Kyle and Diane will follow up on this. Diane will also propose the option of NBA hosting in the fall of 2024. 

42. Around the Table Organization Updates:

CNIB, CTEBVI, APH, NLS, NBA, NFB, ATPC, NBP, CIDI, Hadley, and Clovernook all gave updates.

43. Adjournment: Jen Goulden

Jen adjourned the meeting at 11:32 A.M. on November 16, 2023

Respectfully submitted,

Amber Pearcy

December 6, 2022.