Keystone Systems

05/15/2026

Join KLAS Users' Group President Josh Easter at 3 PM ET, Tuesday, May 19 for the next KLAS Administrators' Open Forum!

The KLAS Admin Open Forum is held monthly via Zoom on the 3rd Tuesday. This is especially for KLAS Admins to have a place to share, discuss, ask questions, network, and more. Why reinvent the wheel when we can learn some great wheel designs from someone else?!

Josh Easter, South Dakota Talking Book & Braille Library & KLAS Users' Group President, hosts / moderates this monthly opportunity for KLAS Administrators to come together online and discuss their experiences, issues, ideas, anecdotes, resources, etc. with KLAS Admins from other organizations.

More Info: https://klasusers.com/klas-news/5-19-2026-klas-administrators-open-forum

05/14/2026

Join Josh and Amy for the May 2026 KLAS Users Reader Advisors Open Forum at 3 PM ET, on Monday, May 18, 2026! Bring your questions, concerns, insights and suggestions to your fellow front line workers.

This is especially for RAs and others who work with directly patrons to have a place to share, discuss, ask questions, network, and more. Amy Elakman, Florida Braille and Talking Book Libraries, and Josh Easter, South Dakota Braille & Talking Book Library, host/moderate this monthly opportunity for Reader Advisors to come together online and discuss their experiences, issues, ideas, anecdotes, resources, etc. with other KLAS Users’ from other organizations.

More Info: https://klasusers.com/klas-news/5-18-2026-klas-user-readers-advisors-open-forum

05/13/2026

Day 1 of the FREE, ONLINE 2026 KLAS Users' MiniConference had over 100 attendees. Questions were asked and answered, best practices were discussed, and there were many suggestions shared. If you missed yesterday's sessions, we hope you will join us today.

If you're a staff member of an organization that uses KLAS, log-in at 1 PM Eastern / 10 AM Pacific for Day 2 of the 2026 KLAS Users' MiniConference! All you have to do, is go to klasusers.com to check out the finalized conference schedule, choose which sessions you want to attend, and complete the registration form so we can plan to allocate enough resources for each session.

2026 KLAS Users' MiniConference Info: https://klasusers.com/klas-miniuc2026

05/05/2026

Are you a staff member of an organization that uses KLAS? If so, be sure to join us Tuesday-Wednesday next week for the online 2026 KLAS Users' MiniConference! if you have not already, please go to klasusers.com to check out the finalized conference schedule, choose which sessions you plan to attend, and complete the registration form so we can plan to allocate enough resources for each session.

REMEMBER: The MiniConference is completely FREE to attend, so we hope to see you there!

2026 KLAS Users' MiniConference Info: https://klasusers.com/klas-miniuc2026

04/28/2026

You're invited to join Pepper Watson, Oklahoma Accessible Instructional Materials Center, and Marion Campbell, Keystone Systems, at 3:00 PM Eastern / Noon Pacific on Thursday, April 30 for a free, online KLAS Users' Roundtable for Instructional Resource / Materials Center staff.

What's on your Spring Cleaning to-do list? Come discuss strategies for retrieving equipment from teachers, re-assigning things that need to stay in the field, and other timely tasks. Once the rush is over, there are Catalog clean-up items ideal for the months ahead as well, such as taking inventory, updating WebOrder, and withdrawing Discontinued items such as EBAE titles. Check out the below article for the details including Zoom info and an option to add this event to your personal calendar.

More info: https://klasusers.com/klas-news/4-30-2026-klas-users-roundtable-irc-imc-catalog-spring-cleaning

04/17/2026

Join the inaugural KLAS Users Reader Advisors Open Forum at 3 PM ET / Noon PT on Monday, April 20, 2026! Bring your questions, concerns, insights and suggestions to your fellow front line workers. This is especially for RAs and others who work with directly patrons to have a place to share, discuss, ask questions, network, and more.

Amy Elakman, Florida Braille and Talking Book Libraries, and Josh Easter, South Dakota Braille & Talking Book Library, will host/moderate this NEW monthly opportunity for Reader Advisors to come together online and discuss their experiences, issues, ideas, anecdotes, resources, etc. with other KLAS Users’ from other organizations.

Learn More: https://klasusers.com/klas-news/4-20-2026-klas-user-readers-advisors-open-forum

04/15/2026

We've received a number of inquiries from states reviewing their Web Content Accessibility Guidelines ( ) compliance ahead of local deadlines. State government accessibility requirements apply to many of your online catalogs and ordering sites, but there’s no cause for alarm. has always been a fundamental requirement for ’ WebOPAC and WebOrder. To this end, we've recently been implementing a number of fixes and improvements to WebOPAC / WebOrder accessibility. However, many elements of the Accessibility Guidelines, such as color contrast, are set by your individual styling template and local settings.

Learn More: https://klasusers.com/klas-news/wcag-2-1-compliance

04/07/2026

Today Library JBI Library shared a preview of their "first-ever image-described graphic novel, Let There Be Light: The Real Story of Her Creation by Liana Finck". Check it out!

04/07/2026

"Like a lot of young children, Matthew Shifrin loved building Lego sets. But because he was blind, Shifrin had to rely on friends and family to help him complete his creations — sometimes bribing them with tea to get them to come by his house.

That all changed when he was 13. A family friend and babysitter came over to his house in Newton, Massachusetts and handed him a binder filled with accessible instructions for building a Middle Eastern palace. The instructions, written in braille, allowed him to complete the set without having to rely on the brightly colored pictures that typically come with Lego sets."

https://www.wral.com/news/ap/5a2a2-how-a-blind-man-made-it-possible-for-others-with-low-vision-to-build-lego-sets/

NEWTON, Mass. (AP) — Like a lot of young children, Matthew Shifrin loved building Lego sets. But because he was blind, Shifrin had to rely on friends and family to help him complete his creations — sometimes bribing them with tea to get them to come by his house.

03/30/2026

From American Experience | PBS:

"Audiobooks are a billion-dollar industry, a staple of modern entertainment. But what most people don’t realize is that their roots trace back to a community that desperately needed them—the blind.

We uncover how the desire for accessibility sparked a revolution in storytelling. Featuring Tony Stephens of the American Foundation for the Blind, Tamera Rorie from the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, and Diana Dapito of Audible, the film takes audiences on a journey through history, technology, and the power of the spoken word.

From Thomas Edison’s first recorded books to a groundbreaking government initiative in the 1930s, the film reveals how advocacy and innovation brought audiobooks into the mainstream. A newly unearthed 1930s time capsule offers a rare glimpse into the early days of recorded storytelling, while today’s industry leaders reflect on how audiobooks have evolved from a necessity to a global phenomenon."

Listen to the story here as well as versions with extended audio description and onscreen ASL: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/audiobooks-and-accessibility-revolution/

Audiobooks are a billion-dollar industry, a staple of modern entertainment. But what most people don’t realize is that their roots trace back to a community that desperately needed them—the blind.