HARDWICK – On Monday, January 22, at 6:30 p.m., at the Jeudevine Library, the Vermont Department of Libraries’ ABLE (Audio Braille Large-print Electronic) Library working with Hardwick’s Jeudevine Memorial Library will present an overview of the free services available to Vermonters of all ages with reading disabilities and blindness, as well as visual and physical disabilities that make it difficult to read regular print.
The ABLE Library serves as the state of Vermont’s National Library Service (NLS) network library. The NLS is a free braille and talking book library service for people with temporary or permanent low vision, blindness, or a physical, perceptual, or reading disability that prevents them from using regular print materials. Through a national network of cooperating libraries, NLS circulates books and magazines in braille or audio formats that are instantly downloadable to a personal device or delivered by mail free of charge. Vermonters who qualify for ABLE services also have access to the 111,000 talking books on demand through the NLS Braille and Audio Reading Download (BARD) program. In addition, the ABLE Library’s collection features large print books, Braille books, and electronic audiobooks and recently added the Accessible Youth Collection, with high contrast picture books, Wonderbooks (picture books with an attached audio player), and decodable books (books focused on phonetics to assist children with reading disabilities).
