TALKING BOOK PROGRAM

  The MLJ-Hardin County District Library, along with the surrounding Hardin County libraries, is pleased to offer services from the Library of the Blind, headquartered in Cleveland Ohio.

  The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped of the Library of Congress provides free recorded and Braille books to eligible adults and children.

  Anyone who cannot read regular print with conventional eye-class correction, who cannot hold a book or turn a page, or who cannot read print because of a neurological handicap (e.g., dyslexia) is eligible of Talking Book library service.  Request an application at our library reference desk.  State your disability on the form and have it signed by a competent authority such as a doctor, optometrist, registered nurse, professional health worker, or in the absence of any of these, a professional librarian.  In the case of a neurological handicap, a doctor of medicine or osteopathy must sign the application.

  Complete books are recorded by professional narrators onto cassettes or discs.  More than a thousand new titles are added to the collection each year.  Braille, a system of writing using raised dots, adds almost four hundred titles each year.  Volunteer agencies such as the taping and Braille services of the Cleveland Sight Center help the Library increase the scope of available books, especially those of regional interest.

  Many popular magazines reflecting a broad range of taste and interests are available in Braille, on discs or on cassettes.  A few of the selections include American Heritage, Good Housekeeping, Sports Illustrated, Reader's Digest, Newsweek, Ebony, and Guideposts.

  Special cassette and phonograph players are available to Talking Book users and are distributed in Ohio by a network of libraries and community agencies under the supervision of the State Library of Ohio.  Equipment is provided at no cost for as long as the individual needs it.  Various attachments such remote control units and amplifiers are available to patrons with special needs.  All materials are mailed postage free at all times.

For more information, please ask any of our library staff members.