National Library for the Blind
Key Facts
Location
Project Criteria
Project funding
£11,150
Funding round
The National Library for the Blind (NLB) is the main Braille lending library in the UK and the only Giant Print library for visually impaired children and teenagers. The aim of the charity, set up in 1982, is to give visually impaired people the same access to books and information as sighted people.
Due to funding restrictions, only a limited number of books can be transcribed into Braille each year, andit is important that information relevant to blind parents is included in this. It is perhaps more important for blind or partially sighted people to access this sort of information, as having little or no vision means parenthood will present an even greater set of challenges.
Many public libraries now have collections of books aimed specifically at parents. These collections pull together books that might otherwise be shelved in various parts of the library and so may not be immediately apparent to parents. By bringing them together in one place, parents who are able to, can see what support is available for them.
NLB's project will involve building a collection of currently popular parenting titles that will be available in Braille. The collection will consist of a wide range of books and will, amongst other things, give practical tips and important information about bringing up children. The individual titles within the collection will be listed on our on-line library catalogue and on Revealweb, a national database of materials available in alternative formats. Anyone looking for material related to parenting that is available in an accessible format will be able to locate our collection simply by putting the keyword 'parenting' into Revealweb, which is made up of over 200 organisations including other key players within the visual impairment sector. We will also promote the collection through our quarterly reader magazine, New Reading. This way, people who aren't actively looking for parenting titles can also be made aware of the new collection.