JBI (est. as The Jewish Braille Institute)

I have always loved books and libraries, and I still have a special place in my heart for Mrs. Cohen, a librarian in my town library who helped me read the entire catalog of children’s books. She was my across-the-street neighbor as well in the small town of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, and she and her husband were very important influences on me as a young child. Maybe that is why I have always felt a special connection to the printed word, reinforced as I got older by studying Judaic texts and my amazing American History teacher in high school who encouraged me to use original texts in my papers. With all of that as background, it was very moving to visit the Library of Congress this past Friday, and to be in endless hallways where books go to be cataloged, celebrated and preserved for scholars, casual readers, and everyone else! I was fortunate to have an appointment to meet with Jeremiah Aaron Taub of the Israel and Judaica section of the Asian and Middle East division of the Public Library. We spent our time talking about possible connections between the Library of Congress’s Judaic work and JBI, and I learned about many different aspects of the Library of Congress’s work. We even had the opportunity to talk about Jewish poetry, and yiddishkeit. JBI and its patrons will, I hope, have more opportunities to access books of Jewish interest as a result of this meeting, and I am excited to continue the conversations with staff at the Library of Congress in the weeks to come. Full access to Jewish life means that JBI needs to continue to explore ways to be a conduit to our our patrons so that we are, indeed, the place where anyone who is blind, has low vision or is print disabled, comes to us to engage with Judaism in any way. Thank you Aaron Taub for taking the time to meet with me!

The Association of Jewish Libraries is a gem of an organization, and because of the connections I made at their recent annual conference, I was able to have an engaging and fruitful conversation with the folks at the Jewish Library of Baltimore, an agency of The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore, and their colleagues from the Jewish Connection Network. We are all passionate about making Jewish life fully accessible to anyone who is interested in learning, praying, engaging, enjoying and celebrating our rich cultural and religious heritage. We think that is is crucial to eliminate barriers to full engagement before anyone asks for assistance, and to mindful of how we ensure that our communities and our organizations are aware of what it means to be truly responsive to the diversity of our world. We reminisced about some of our favorite Jewish story books for children, discussed Jewish poetry, and talked about some impactful books about living with disabilities through a Jewish lens. We shared ideas and suggestions, built new connections and created new opportunities for the communities we serve. This is just the beginning our our work together, and I am so grateful that I stopped in Baltimore today. Almost two hours after we began our conversation, it was time to get back to our other work.

Come hear JBI Executive Director Livia Thompson and Chief Operating Officer Andrew Goodman at the National Federation of the Blind Convention in Orlando, Florida this week. They will be speaking at the Judaism Meeting, July 4, from 7–9 pm and will be at Table C10 in the Exhibitor Hall on July 4 and 5. We’d love to see you if you are attending, so please stop by and say hello!

I had the pleasure of meeting Lisa Lepore, the Director of Library Services of Braille Institute of America in Los Angeles at the end of last week and toured their amazing library facilities where they support patrons of all ages who have some kind of visual impairment. We spoke about poetry, and recording books, and our amazing staffs, and about supporting our patrons with special programs and activities as well as providing them with all sorts of wonderful books. It was a great conversation.

We are currently hiring for a new Head Librarian as our previous Head Librarian recently retired. If you'll be at the Association of Jewish Libraries Conference next Monday or Tuesday, our Executive Director Livia Thompson, would be delighted to speak in person with anyone interested in learning more.

If you are at the Association of Jewish Libraries Conference in San Diego next week, be sure to check out our Executive Director Livia Thompson’s session “How to Build an Accessible Book Club,” on Monday June 24, where Livia will share JBI’s experiences with both in-person and virtual accessible book clubs.  #AJLCon24

We were fortunate to have Dr. Silverman come to a JBI board meeting and speak with us and I know how informed, passionate and dedicated she is to making sure that there are no barriers to success for individuals with vision loss. I am sure that this program will provide valuable insight into how to make sure your place of employment is welcoming to and accessible for people with vision loss. Everyone deserves a chance to be evaluated on the skills, talents and capacity they bring to a possible job, and not on the fact that they have vision loss.

The enthusiasm of the Women of Reform Judaism is contagious, and it is a joy to celebrate shabbat with them as they sing, dance, chant Torah, and pray. This is a community that is trying to be inclusive —thinking ahead of time about how to be an accessible community for all. WRJ was a founder of JBI in 1931 and it has been wonderful to reconnect, and to speak with WRJ members about what JBI is doing and the ways that we can work together to support WRJ’s mission to empower women and communities through the bonds of sisterhood, spiritually and social justice. Today, I was part of a WRJ panel discussion on inclusion and accessibility to support WRJ districts and individual sisterhood groups as they strive to create barrier free caring communities. Anyone from WRJ, or from anywhere else, is encouraged to reach out to me at Lthompson@jbilibrary.org or to call me at 212-545-8030 for more information about our work, including remote volunteer opportunities. Check out our website for more information JBI (est. as The Jewish Braille Institute).

Thank you Lighthouse Louisiana for welcoming Livia while she was in Louisiana last week!

If you'll be at the Women of Reform Judaism's conference next weekend - be sure to check out our Executive Director Livia Thompson on the "How to Make Jewish Life More Accessible" panel on Saturday, June 1.