Kentucky Talking Book Library
We have more than 50,000 titles in Braille and on cassette tape that are selected to appeal to people of all ages and with a wide range of interests. We have popular fiction such as Romances, Westerns and Mysteries, and non-fiction such as Biographies, History and Religion. It generally takes a few months between when a book is published and when it is available from our library, and we have multiple copies of each title.
The National Library Service provides most of our collection. However titles for our Kentucky collection are recorded in the KTBL by the KTBL Volunteer Recording program. These are books about Kentucky, books by Kentucky authors, or those of local interest to Kentuckians.
The collection is not limited to books. More than 70 magazines are available by free subscription on cassette or in Braille. We also have close to 300 Descriptive Videos—these are VHS movies with added narration for those who are unable to watch the action onscreen.
We do not have textbooks, large print books, musical recordings, or language instruction tapes because they are available through other means. Textbooks can be obtained through education programs such as Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic (www.rfbd.org). Large print books, musical recordings, and foreign language instruction tapes are generally available from public libraries.
Braille music scores and Braille or recorded music instruction are available directly from the Music Section of the National Library Service, nlsm@loc.gov.