The Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library (TSCPL) announces its plan to merge Red Carpet Services and Talking Books on October 1, 2009. Dedicated to serving the lifelong needs of library users, the staff will work as one unit to reflect its mission to give those with special adaptive needs, “red carpet service.” Red Carpet and Talking Books customers will benefit from the combined staff expertise, and increased awareness of the wide-range of services available.
Stephanie Hall
Improved benefits to Talking Books customers include easier and expanded access in the Red Carpet Service area, which is located close to the front entrance of the library. The hours of operation have also increased to the same hours as the rest of the library, Monday-Friday, 9 am-9pm; Saturday 9 am-6pm, and Sunday 12-9 pm. The staff is also looking at ways to do more outreach for talking books customers and the libraries in the Northeast Kansas Library System by making site visits on a regular basis and assisting both customers and librarians with training on the new machines and downloading capabilities with the new digital talking book machine.
The merger prepares TSCPL for the October 2009 introduction of the new digital talking book machines which will eventually replace the cassette books and players. If you have any questions and/or suggestions regarding these changes please contact Stephanie Hall at slhall@tscpl.org.
Teri Nelson is the Staff Assistant at NEKLS. You can reach her by email (tnelson (at) nekls.org), phone, or on the Google Chat instant messaging platform (look Teri up by her email address). Visit the 
