The Next Session of the Worcester Talking Book Library’s Winter/Spring 2016 series

The next session of the Worcester Talking Book Library’s Winter/Spring 2016 series of free adaptive technology training workshops will take place on Saturday, April 9 from 1:30 to 3:30 pm in the 3rd Floor Computer Lab at the Worcester Public Library.

This session will cover a potpourri (or, as JAWS says, “poe pooree”) of tools and tricks in several areas that have either been requested by participants or are useful tools and tricks recently picked up by the instructor. These will include, but not necessarily be limited to: searching and playing YouTube videos, as well as an introduction to another accessible site drawing on YouTube; changing reading order and placemarker insertion for PDF files; and using Cortana in Windows 10.

To register for this workshop, as well as to seek any additional information, please contact Jim Izatt or call the Worcester Talking Book Library at 1-800-762-0085 or 1-508-799-1730.

The only prerequisite for participation is a minimum typing skill level of approximately 20 words per minute. Please remember to bring a pair of personal headphones so you can work on one of the lab computers. 

Worcester Talking Book Library’s Winter/Spring 2016 Series of Free Adaptive Technology Training Workshops

Worcester Public Library is happy to announce that the next session of the Worcester Talking Book Library’s Winter/Spring 2016 series of free adaptive technology training workshops will take place on Saturday, March 12, from 1:30 to 3:30 PM in the 3rd Floor Computer Lab of the Main Branch.

This session will be a continuation of the last session on headings and styles in Word. The styles menu is a potentially powerful tool for formatting and navigating through Word documents. Hands-on exercises, inserting headings and other format-related elements via the styles menu, as well as related topics such as creating a table of contents and inserting page numbers in longer documents, will be covered.  Also on the agenda is the quick access toolbar, a valuable tool for defining shortcut keys for frequently-used Microsoft Office commands.

Topics for future sessions will be based on popular demand of participants. Dates and times for the remaining spring sessions are as follows.

·       Saturday April 9 - 1:30 to 3:30 pm

·       Saturday May 14 - 9:45 to 11:45 am

The only prerequisite for participation is a minimum typing skill level of approximately 20 words per minute. Please remember to bring a pair of personal headphones so you can work on one of the lab computers.

Reminders and registration requests for subsequent workshops will be sent out shortly before each of those workshops.

To register for the March 12 workshop, as well as to seek any additional information, please contact Jim Izatt or call the Worcester Talking Book Library at 1-800-762-0085 or 1-508-799-1730.

Free Adaptive Technology Training from Worcester Talking Book Library

WPL is happy to announce the Worcester Talking Book Library’s Fall 2015 series of free adaptive technology training workshops. These will take place in the 3rd Floor Computer Lab at the Worcester Public Library Main Branch on Saturday mornings from 9:45 AM to 11:45 AM. There will be four sessions as outlined below:

Saturday September 26: Topics in Outlook

Creating messages, navigating folders, attaching documents, and several other Outlook tools.

Saturday October 17: Excel Basics

Spreadsheet navigation, composing simple formulas, cell formatting, inserting and deleting rows and columns, sorting columns alphabetically and by value, automatic reading of column and row titles with the define names command, and adjusting column width.

Saturday November 7: To Be Determined

To be decided by the consensus of participants from previous sessions.

Saturday December 5: To Be Determined

To be decided by the consensus of participants from previous sessions.

To register for these workshops, as well as to seek any additional information, please contact Jim Izatt or call the Worcester Talking Book Library at 1-800-762-0085 or 1-508-799-1730.

The only prerequisite for participation is a minimum typing skill level of approximately 20 words per minute. Please remember to bring a pair of personal headphones so you can work on one of the lab computers. Reminders and registration requests for subsequent workshops will be sent out shortly before each of those workshops.

Please do not hesitate to share this message with someone whom you think might be interested in attending this workshop. Thank you for your interest!

Worcester Talking Book Library's Adaptive Technology Training Workshops

The Worcester Talking Book Library’s remaining two free adaptive technology training workshops will take place in the computer lab at the Worcester Public Library on Saturday mornings from 9:45 AM–11:45 AM. The next two sessions are outlined below.

Saturday June 6: Microsoft Word Basics

This session will cover navigating ribbon menus, the most important commands for reading existing Word documents, creating new ones, and saving them to your hard drive.

Saturday June 13: To Be Determined

The topic for this workshop will be decided by consensus of those who participated in the previous sessions.

To register for these workshops, as well as to seek any additional information, please contact Jim Izatt or call the Worcester Talking Book Library at 1-800-762-0085 or 1-508-799-1730.

The only prerequisite for participation is a minimum typing skill level of approximately 20 words per minute. Please remember to bring a pair of personal headphones so you can work on one of the lab computers.

Reminders and registration requests for subsequent workshops will be sent out shortly before each of those workshops.

Do not hesitate to share this message with someone whom you think might be interested in attending this workshop.

Thank you for your interest.

For information on the Worcester Talking Book Library and its free services to people who cannot read traditional print materials due to visual or physical disability, click on the following link: 
http://www.worcpublib.org/talkingbook/

JAWS Workshop by Talking Book Library

The Worcester Talking Book Library is conducting a free workshop on Jaws, a screen reading program for users with visual impairment. The session will be held on Saturday, December 14 from 10 AM – 12 PM in the computer lab at the Worcester Public Library.

This workshop will cover basic and intermediate text editing; spelling and grammar check; document formatting quick keys; techniques for quickly skimming long documents; setting typing echo; and using JAWS “Research It” as a dictionary.

Participants should have basic typing skills (a minimum of approximately 25 words per minute) and some prior exposure to JAWS or another screen-reading program.

Participants are encouraged to bring a set of headphones to the workshop. If needed, these may be purchased at the Worcester Public Library for $2.00.

Please feel free to share this message with someone whom you think might be interested in attending this workshop.

To register, please contact the Worcester Talking Book Library at 1-800-762-0085 or 1-508-799-1730.

Free JAWS Workshops

The Worcester Talking Book Library is planning a series of free JAWS workshops beginning this fall and continuing into the spring of next year. The workshops are open to all interested parties and not limited to Talking Book Library patrons. If you know someone who may be interested in the workshops, please let them know by sharing this announcement. Thank you.

The first two workshops, scheduled for November 10 and November 17, will offer an introduction to JAWS version 13, which will include important JAWS commands and keystrokes for editing and reading text; navigation; the computer desktop and start menu environments; and basic file management. Possible topics for future JAWS workshops may include using JAWS with NLS BARD downloads, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Outlook and Windows Media Player as determined by participants’ preferences.

The workshops will be held in the computer lab at the Worcester Public Library on Saturday mornings from 10 AM – 12 noon. Participants are encouraged to bring a recording device or small tape recorder, as well as a set of earbuds or headphones to the workshop. Earbuds can be purchased at the Worcester Public Library for $2.00 for anyone who may need a set.

Workstation seating space is limited and will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis to the first 18 people who register. Seating for an additional six observers will be available at the back of the computer lab.