Date of Meeting: September 8, 2001

The meeting was called to order by President Amy Ruell at 1:00 PM. Amy announced that due to computer difficulties the reading of the minutes would be postponed until the October meeting.

Amy announced that she had spoken with several of the officers and that the officers were recommending that Diane Fann become part of the nominating committee, to replace Rhonda Mencey. Amy again reminded people that anyone interested in running should contact Ginny Alverson at (617) 776-9706. She stated that the annual meeting was in October, and it was generally the practice of the nominating committee to share their slate of recommended officers in the September meeting, but that since the committee was not prepared to do so at this meeting, that they should contact Ginny within two weeks so that the committee could get the slate to Amy who would then send it on to VIBUG members. Amy also reminded people that people could also be nominated from the floor. Following elections, Jeffrey turner will be leading a Beginners' clinic.

Amy announced that in February Kim Charlson will be demonstrating Web Braille. She also told all present that she had received some of the tutorials. Ginny Alverson will be in charge of the lending library. Once all tutorials have been purchased, they will be available for loan. The list of tutorials will be placed on our Website. Tutorials will be loaned for one month at a time. Borrowers can only borrow one tutorial at a time, and must make arrangements with Ginny to return borrowed materials. People were advised not to copy any tutorials, and also informed that if tutorials were damaged or lost, borrowers would be expected to replace them. Ginny will keep a database to keep track of borrowers, and will have a waiting list established, as well. We will also eventually have an archive of Main Menu Programs available for lending.

Amy is looking for input from members about what they would like to see in the future in VIBUG. She will design an open-ended questionnaire, and the results of this will be discussed further at a subsequent meeting.

Amy told us that the list of tutorials from VIBUG meetings will be placed on the web. We are looking for a volunteer to tape meetings, edit the tapes, and distribute them as they are requested. We will discuss this at the next meeting.

Amy announced that Jaws 4.0 is now available. As well, Window-Eyes 4.11 and Kurzweil 6.0 are now available. Amy talked about the new Bookshare Program. She encouraged people who scan books to contact Benetech for more information about their program. Amy also told people that the JFWlite homepage is an excellent resource for Jaws users.

Did you know that in Internet Explorer, when you want to type in a website, you can use the keystroke Control O, and then put in the URL you wish to access, hit the "enter" key, and the website will load?

Following a demonstration of Homesite by Maria Rueters, the meeting was adjourned at 4:00 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,
Jeanette Kutash,
Vibug Clerk