The following is a list of some of the most frequently asked questions by our customers and financial supporters:
Q: Who qualifies for your services?
A: Anyone who is visually impaired or is unable to read conventionally printed material (physically handicapped, has a severe developmental disorder, etc.) and organizations that provide alternate media formats for the visually or physically impaired community.
Q: Who qualifies to be a Book Club Member?
A: Book Club Members are individuals who are visually impaired or are unable to read conventionally printed material (physically handicapped, has a severe developmental disorder, etc.). Organizations that service the visually or physically impaired community do not qualify for Book Club Membership and must pay a nominal fee for our services.
Q: How do I request your services?
A: Print out a copy of the order form for the service you desire;
Complete the pertinent information and mail it to us along with the book, media, braille writer, etc.: Volunteers of Vacaville
Attn: Program Director
PO Box 670
Vacaville, CA 95696-0670
Material can be sent to us FREE MATTER FOR THE BLIND.
Or you may contact us by phone at 707-448-6841 Ext. 2044
Q: Do I have to send the book that I want to have transcribed to you? Will I get it back?
A: Yes, you will need to send us the book and indicate if there are any special instructions on how you would like it transcribed. The book will be returned with the Aural or Braille transcription copy. In the absence of special formatting instructions, the transcriber will produce the book according to industry braille and recording standards.
Q: How many books can I send for aural transcription?
A: Book Club Members can have one book per quarter aurally transcribed free of charge if they are an active Book Club Member. The book will be recorded onto standard CD’s and may either be returned after use or is yours to keep for a nominal fee of $ .50 per disc. The Program Director reserves the right to refuse the transcription of any material that is deemed inappropriate.
Non-Book Club Members can have as many books as they desire transcribed each year for a fee of $4.00 per track (a track is 70 minutes of recording time, 1 CD, which is approximately 25 pages of a standard book). There is an additional fee of $ .50 per cassette or CD.
Q: How many books can a Book Club Member request from the Catalog for duplication?
A: Book Club Members can request duplication of 2 books per month from our extensive catalog if you intend to return the books, or an unlimited number of duplications if you wish to purchase the books.
Q: Can I keep the books that I order from the catalog?
A: All books requested from the catalog must be returned when you have completed listening to them. If you would like to purchase the book, you can request that we duplicate the book for you at a $ .50 per cassette or CD cost.
Q: Why does it take more than two weeks to receive my brailler or book?
A: We are a non-profit organization that is located in the California Department of Corrections - California Medical Facility in Vacaville, CA. We employ 20 inmates to produce the services that you request. At times there are security issues that will require the institution to place the workers on lockdown status. When this occurs, all work stops until the workers are released from lockdown. All work is placed in a queue on a first come first serve basis and will be returned to you as quickly as possible.
Q: What is Braille?
A: This system of writing and reading used by many blind people was invented almost 200 years ago. While several types of written communication systems were tried during a ten-year period beginning in 1825, the one invented by a blind teenager was adopted. Some modifications have been made to it over the years but the Braille code in use today is virtually the same as it was in 1834.
Louis Braille was born January 4, 1809, in a small village near Paris. His father, a leather worker, often used sharp tools in his work. While playing in his father's shop when he was three, Louis injured his eye on an awl. In spite of good care, infection set in and soon left him completely blind.
When Louis grew to school age, he was allowed to sit in the classroom to learn by listening. Louis was very bright and creative, and when he was ten, he was sent to the Royal Institution for Blind youth in Paris. There too, most instruction was oral, but there were a few books in a kind of raised print developed by the school's founder. Although frustrated by the large, bulky books and slow reading of the tactile characters, he did well at his studies and dreamed of a better way. At that time, the raised letters were made by pressing shaped copper wire onto paper but there was no way for blind people to write for themselves.
While a student, he began to use his creativity to invent an easy and quick way for blind people to read and write. Louis heard of a system of raised dots developed by a French army captain, Charles Barbier de la Serre. Barbier originally created a code of raised dots and dashes as a way to allow soldiers to write and read messages at night without using a light that might give away their positions. He later adapted the system hoping that it would be officially adopted at his school. It was based on phonetics and consisted of groups of twelve dots arranged in two columns of six dots each.
Louis worked with Barbier's basic ideas to develop his own simplified system that we know today as braille. He based the code on the normal alphabet and reduced the number of dots by half.
Louis Braille published the first Braille book in 1829. In 1837, he added symbols for math and music. Although Louis Braille went on to become a beloved and respected teacher, was encouraged in his research, and continued to believe in the value of his work, his system of reading and writing with raised dots was nevertheless not very widely accepted in his own time. Louis Braille died of tuberculosis on January 6, 1852.
Today, in virtually every language around the world, the code named after Louis Braille is the standard form of writing and reading used by blind people.
Q: How do you keep my personal information from the inmates?
A: All materials sent to the Volunteers of Vacaville is inspected by the Program Director and any confidential information is removed before it is given to the workers.
Q: What method of payments are accepted?
A: We accept checks and money orders only.
Q: How can we support your organization?
A: Any financial support or donations of equipment or supplies is extremely beneficial to our mission and is greatly appreciated. Please see how you can Be a VOV Partner to learn how how you too can join in the services we provide.