What Services Are Available?
Books and Magazines | Players | Reader Advisory | Catalog
Recorded and Braille Books and Magazines
Free Service
and Free Mailing
Some of TBBL's service is handled through the mail. Books, magazines, machines, and catalog book orders are sent via the US Postal Service without cost, as Free Matter for the Blind or Handicapped.
Borrowers don't have to pay postage to return the books, either.
Eligible adults and children may borrow books in audio format and/or in braille.
Our book collection is similar to that found in a large public library. It consists of popular fiction and nonfiction, as well as general informational and recreational materials for all ages and tastes.
Many magazines are also available
in braille and recorded formats.
We do not have school textbooks. Please see Textbooks in Alternative Formats for sources of textbooks in other formats.
Special Playback Equipment
TBBL loans special equipment for use with its recorded books. Currently, eligible borrowers may request both the digital player and the older cassette player. See the Equipment page for more information.
Reader Advisory Services
The library offers borrowers a variety of reader advisory services, including:
- help choosing books,
- subject bibliographies,
- investigation and correction of book supply and other service problems,
- locating and obtaining books through interlibrary loan,
- referral to alternative resources,
- reference services, and
- technical support for downloading books.
TBBL's Online Public Access Catalog
We offer an online catalog giving Internet access to outside users and registered library borrowers to search for braille and audio books in our collection. The catalog provides information about books, including author, title, book number, narrator, publication date, reading level, a short description of the contents, and how many copies are currently available.
While anyone can access TBBL's online catalog and search it, you must be a registered TBBL user to submit requests or view your patron record. To do this, you must first contact us to set up your user ID and password.
Braille and Audio Reading Download (BARD)
We highly recommend that you take advantage of the BARD service to download digital books directly. The complete digital collection is only available via download.
National Library Service (NLS) Catalogs
The NLS Online catalog includes books held in all Talking Book libraries in the United States. NLS provides two bimonthly magazines (Talking Book Topics and Braille Book Review), annual book cumulations, and subject bibliographies to help library users choose books. TBBL can obtain materials for users through interlibrary loan.