Save funding for Voices of Vision

I am writing today to express my concern for the future of the Voices of Vision Talking Book Center service. Voices of Vision is one of four subregional libraries in Illinois working with the Illinois State Library Talking Book and Braille Service and the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. The service is administered locally by the DuPage Library System in Geneva.

Voices of Vision provides free library service to children and adults unable to read or use conventional print material due to a visual or physical disability. There is no cost to eligible readers. Voices of Vision serves a 12-county area: Boone, suburban Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, LaSalle, McHenry and Will counties. It provides eligible readers both Braille and recorded materials, books and magazines. It is a lifeline for these users and their families.

Secretary of State Jesse White has successfully redistributed grant monies to do as little harm as possible to library grant programs. However, DLS has received less than 3 percent of the $460,286 State of Illinois grant that funds this critically important program.

Illinois has a serious budget problem, as do many residents of Illinois. Please understand that Voices of Vision is an essential service to many in our communities. Please urge your state senators and representatives to restore the promised funding to the DuPage Library System so this indispensable resource can continue for years to come.

Nancy Hoelscher Bell

Batavia