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Borrowing, caring for, and looking for braille books

The Care and Keeping of Braille

When you borrow books from the distributed braille collection, treat them with the care and love you treat your own books. Should the books become damaged, please don’t charge anyone for the replacement cost: let us know and we’ll decide how to fix or replace them.

Host libraries will receive a USB stick included with the braille, which contains MARC files for the titles that were received.

When host libraries process braille for their library, they take extra care  when applying ownership stamps, barcodes, and shelf labels. Ensure that labels and tape do not cover any braille, or it won’t be able to be read. When stamping, do not stamp on top of any braille to avoid risk of flattening the braille dots which will inhibit the reading experience. You can open the braille book up and lay it flat to avoid stamping on braille.

Like all books, braille should be stored in a dry place away from water. Braille should also be stored standing upright using bookends at the end of each shelf to keep them tight, but not crammed to avoid warping or squishing of the braille dots. Over time, if braille is stored flat, the weight of itself can depress the braille dots. Therefore, braille should not be stored stacked or with other items on top of it.

If books become damaged, repairs with tape glue, or hot glue should be avoided. Tape can cover necessary braille and glue can distort or change the braille. Hot glue, especially when used on tactile graphics, can melt the braille/tactile. The best method for repair is to contact NNELS by emailing braille@nnels.ca so they can arrange for replacement pages.

Borrowing

Braille readers can access the distributed braille collection through their local public library. Public library staff can search the NNELS repository and request the title from the host library on behalf of the reader by inter-library loan.

Help! We Need a Title!

Find more books in this hardcopy collection by visiting nnels.ca/braille/. You will also find electronic braille files which can be read with a refreshable braille display or notetaker, as well as the braille print titles we mentioned earlier.

If your library is interested in purchasing your own braille titles, consider these economical options:

American Printing House for the Blind
https://www.aph.org
1839 Frankfort Avenue
Louisville, Kentucky, USA
1.800.223.1839

Braille Superstore (books are not suitable for library-use)
http://www.braillebookstore.com/Braille-Bookstore
33222 Lynn Avenue
Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada
1.800.987.1231

National Braille Press
www.nbp.org
88 St. Stephen Street
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
1.617.266.6160

Seedlings Braille Books for Children
www.seedlings.org
P.O. Box 51924
Livonia, Michigan, USA
1.800.777.8552

Tactile Vision Graphics
https://tactilevisiongraphics.com
400 Erie Street East, Unit 9
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
1.866.465.0755

Braille, and other alternate formats are also available to students in all the provinces and territories across Canada. Most of these providers of educational materials in alternate formats belong to a group called the Canadian Association of Educational Resource Centres for Alternate Format Materials (CAER). Visit  https://caercanada.ca/ to find out more information and to view contact information for each resource centre.

If you are not currently a hosting library, but would like to be, or if you are currently a hosting library and would like to stop, please let us know. If you have any other questions or feedback, please contact us: