Libraries and leisure

Reservations in formats for visually impaired and print disabled people

Hertfordshire libraries offer a free inter-library loans service to visually impaired people through the Bee Aware scheme. This includes large print, talking books, Braille and Moon.

The Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB), the Talking Newspaper Association UK (TNAUK), Calibre (Cassette Library for the Blind and Print Disabled) and some other service providers have all agreed to make their resources (over 100,000 titles) available through libraries via a database set up for the Bee Aware scheme. Visually impaired library users can order these items free of charge at any Hertfordshire library.

Access to this database is via the RNIB catalogue(click on the Resources in accessible media link on the right). You can:

• search by author, title, subject and ISBN
• restrict your search to specific formats such as Braille or Talking books
• check whether a specific item is already available in an appropriate format, or if it is about to be purchased in that format
• find out which organisation holds the required item, and how you can order it through your local library

Eligibility criteria

This service is available to anybody who is:

• either registered blind or partially sighted
• a member of Calibre, Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) or Talking Newspapers Association UK (TNAUK)
• unable to read a standard print book in the ordinary way (declaration forms are available from the library and must be signed by a doctor, health visitor or social/rehabilitation worker)