June 2023

Braille Authority of North America Board Meeting 

Monday, June 27, 2023, 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time

1. Call to Order: Jen Goulden

Jen called the meeting to order at 1:00 P.M. Eastern Time. 

2. Roll Call: Amber Pearcy

Attending:

  • 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 

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

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

  • Kyle DeJute, American Printing House for the Blind (APH)

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

  • Diane Spence, National Braille Association (NBA) 

  • Jennifer Dunnam, National Federation of the Blind (NFB) 

  • Wendy Buckley, Perkins School for the Blind

  • Susan (Sue) Reilly, Administrative Assistant

  • Holly Bullock, associate member Crawford Technologies

Not Attending: 

  • Danette Johnson, Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Treasurer

  • Marie Zaldivar, Alternate Text Production Center (ATPC) 

  • Frances Mary (FM) D'Andrea, American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)
  • Guy Toles, Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation (CIDI)
  • Tina Seger, Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired
  • Aquinas Pather, associate member Allyant

3. Approval of Minutes from the May 2023 Meeting: Amber Pearcy

Discussion was held about the spring 2023 minutes. The only note was that the date and host location should be added to the minutes. It was decided that the minutes can be approved at this meeting.

MSC: Amber moved that the minutes from the May 2023 meeting be approved. Tamara seconded. Motion carried. 

4. Nemeth Code Updates: Mary Nelle McLennan 

A copy edit will not be conducted on the Nemeth files or the Chemistry files.

 

5. Tactile Graphics Update: Diane Spence, Mary Nelle McLennan 

The Tactile graphics Guidelines are still under remediation. 

Diane received an email from the chair of the NBA Tactile Graphics Committee wishing to include information about the updated Unit 5 in their presentation at the upcoming NBA conference. 

MSC: Diane moved that BANA allow NBA to use the updated material in the pre-publication version of Unit 5 in a workshop at the 2023 fall conference; the material cannot be distributed until the document is published on the BANA website. MN seconded. Motion carried.

Regarding exploration of remediation options, Mary Nelle has learned that

there may be additional options for remediation of approved BANA publications.

6. Chemistry Update: Kyle DeJute

In FM’s absence, Kyle reported that the supplement is with the Chemistry Committee under review. 

7. US Rep to DAISY Music Braille Committee: Jen Goulden 

It has been brought to our attention that there is not a U.S. representative on the DAISY Braille Music Committee. Tamara recommended Timothy Jones for this position. 

Jen will approach Sarah Morley-Wilkins to ask if a U.S. representative is desired on the committee. 

8. Awards Committee: Jen Goulden

Darleen Bogart and Dawn Gross have agreed to serve on the committee. Getting in Touch with Literacy has said that BANA can present an award at their conference in December if an award is given.

FM will convene a meeting of this committee after July. 

Tamara would like for BANA to consider providing some kind of award at the Braille Challenge. She will connect with Jen to discuss. 

9. Delegates to ICEB General Assembly: Judy Dixon 

The meeting will occur in Auckland New Zealand from May 25-31 2024. Fifty percent of the delegates must be people who are blind and are touch braille readers. Jennifer will be attending, and FM will represent BANA as a member of the General committee on UEB. Additional discussion was had about the remaining two delegates who should be sent.

MSC: Judy moved that BANA send Jennifer Dunnam, Frances Mary D’Andrea, Tamara Rorie, and Mary Nelle McLennan. Wendy seconded. Motion carried. 

Jen will submit this list to the ICEB secretary. 

10. eBRF Working Group Update: Jen Goulden

Meetings of the EBRF Working Group are occurring once a month throughout the summer. Jen will assist the subgroup discussing formatting requirements for EBRF files.

11. Knit and Crochet Guidelines: Jennifer Dunnam 

Cindi Laurent and Jennifer have created a document that aligns Knit and Crochet guidelines with UEB. They have incorporated some of Lindy 

Walton's work into this document. The document is almost ready to be sent to the board for review. 

MSC: Mary Nelle moved to charge the review committee to manage a board review of the updated knit and crochet guidelines with the goal of completing the review by the September meeting. Kyle seconded. Motion carried.

12. Fall Meeting: Wendy Buckley

Perkins will host the fall BANA meeting October 25-27 at the Grousbeck Center on the Perkins campus in Watertown, MA. Wendy has sent information about hotel accommodations to the board via email. Additional details will be announced. 

13. Spring 2024 Meeting: Jen Goulden / Jennifer Dunnam

A lengthy discussion was had about the pros and cons of BANA hosting its own meeting versus being hosted by member organizations. Ultimately, it was determined that BANA needs to continue the tradition of asking member organizations to host. 

MSC: Tamara moved that the BANA Chair will work with APH and AER to determine who can host the Spring 2024 meeting. Jennifer seconded. Motion carried with one abstention.

14. Next Meeting: Jen Goulden

The next teleconference will occur on August 21 at 1 P.M. Eastern Time. 

15. Adjournment: Jen Goulden

Jen adjourned the meeting at 2:15 P.M. Eastern Time. 

Respectfully submitted,

Amber Pearcy, Secretary

July 31, 2023