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Become a Patron of the Library
Becoming a patron of Braille Institute's Library is easy. Read more about how to sign up below:
Eligibility Requirements
How to Sign Up
Getting Started: What to Expect
Hours of Operation
Free Audio and Braille Book Library
Become a Patron: For Schools and Institutions
Eligibility Requirements
To become a patron you must meet the following criteria, which must be documented by a competent authority such as a physician, nurse, optometrist, therapist, hospital or nursing-home professional, social worker or librarian. Family members are not eligible to certify as a competent authority.
Eligibility Criteria:
- Persons who are "legally blind," which means that your vision is 20/200 or less in your better eye with corrective lenses. People with 20/200 vision can only see at 20 feet letters that a healthy eye can see at 200 feet. You are also legally blind if the widest diameter of your visual field is 20 degrees or less in your better eye. In other words, you are legally blind if you cannot read the big "E" on an eye chart at 20 feet.
- Persons with a visual disability who are unable to read standard print even with correction and despite optical measurement.
- Persons who cannot hold a book or handle standard printed materials because of physical limitations.
- Persons with a reading disability resulting from organic dysfunction that is sufficiently severe to prevent them from reading standard printed material. Note: This condition must be documented by a doctor of medicine.
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How to Sign Up
Download an application to become a Braille Institute Library Patron. 145 kilobytes PDF download. (145 Kb Download PDF viewer, Acrobat Reader, from adobe.com).
Applications must be documented by a competent authority such as a physician, nurse, optometrist, therapist, hospital or nursing-home professional, social worker or librarian. Family members are not eligible to certify as a competent authority.
If you have trouble downloading this form, please call the Library's toll-free line at 1-800-808-2555 and we'll be happy to send it to you by standard mail.
Adobe PDF documents work with assistive technology to help make information accessible to people with disabilities.
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Getting Started: What to Expect
Once your application is processed, a Reader Advisor will be there to help you select titles of interest to you, assist you in choosing the right playback machine and guide you in using Library Services.
Catalogs
Initially, you will receive large-print or braille catalogs from which you may order books. You also will receive either Talking Book Topics or the Braille Book Review every two months, which list the latest books available. And you'll receive our own quarterly newsletter, Librarian, which is available in large print, braille or cassette.
Your Patron ID Number
When you sign up, you will receive a member number. You will use this number in the future to order books and conduct other business with the Library.
Note: It is not necessary to have your ID number to order books but it is helpful.
Your Playback Machine
Your loaned playback machine should arrive approximately a month after your initial book order. You may keep the equipment as long as needed, provided you borrow reading materials from us regularly.
What You Can Borrow
As a new patron, you are eligible to borrow books on cassette or in braille and descriptive videos and subscribe to magazines on cassette or in braille. You also have access to foreign-language titles through the NLS. All titles have call numbers preceded by the following codes:
- RC: recorded cassettes
- FD: flexible discs
- BR: braille
- DVS: descriptive video
- LP: large print
- DB: digital book
Our Reader Advisors
If you ever have trouble selecting books, our Reader Advisors will be more than willing to help you. They can suggest titles based on your interests or help you find titles by your favorite authors. Learn how to contact the Braille Institute Library.
Ready to Order?
Please visit our Using the Library section to find answers to common questions about ordering materials.
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Hours of Operation
Braille Institute's Library Services office is open Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. After regular business hours, leave a message at (323) 660-3880 or at our toll-free number 1-800-808-2555.
You also may contact Library Services by e-mail at: bils@braillelibrary.org
Our online catalog is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Search our collection of books in braille and recorded formats.
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Free Audio and Braille Book Library
If you are a United States resident living outside Southern California, you can locate the cooperating branch library nearest you by visiting the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) Web site at loc dot gov slash nls.
Or visit the direct link to their list of cooperating libraries by clicking here: www.loc.gov/nls/find.html
You can also call the NLS toll free at: 1-800-424-8567
Or you can write them at:
The National Library Service for the
Blind and Physically Handicapped
Library of Congress
Washington, DC 20542
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Become a Patron: For Schools and Institutions
Schools and other institutions that serve individuals who are blind and visually impaired or physically or reading disabled are eligible to become patrons of the Braille Institute Library. When an institution becomes a patron, it is sent a depository collection of braille and recorded books and magazines for its eligible clients to use.
To apply, download an application to become a Braille Institute Library Patron for Schools and Institutions. 15 kilobytes PDF download. (15 Kb Download PDF viewer, Acrobat Reader, from adobe.com)
If you have trouble downloading this form, please call the Library's toll-free line at 1-800-808-2555 and we'll be happy to send it to you by standard mail.
