Talking Book Center

The Talking Book Center of Chicago under the auspices of the Illinois State Library Talking Book and Braille Service provides Chicago residents with visual or physical impairments a free library program from the Library of Congress, National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS). The Talking Book Center provides the free loan of recorded and Braille books and magazines, music scores in Braille and large print, and specially designed playback equipment to residents of Chicago who are unable or have difficulty reading standard print materials because of visual or physical impairment.

FIFTH FLOOR North
400 South State Street
Chicago, Illinois 60605
(312) 747-4001
(800) 757-4654 (in-city wats)
(312) 747-1609 (fax)

Who Can Use This Service
Any person who, because of a visual or physical limitations, has dyslexia or is unable to read standard print, hold a book, or turn a page is eligible for the service. The impairment may be either temporary or permanent. When assistive devices must be used to read standard print in a comfortable manner, and the impairment is based on a physical or visual impairment as certified by a competent authority.

How To Apply
Obtain an application for service from The Talking Book Center (call (312) 747-4001 or (800) 757-4654) to get either the "Application for Free Library Services: Individuals" or the "Application for Free Library Services: Institutions" and mailing the completed form to the Talking Book Center (TBC). Indicate the nature of the visual or physical impairment. The impairment must be certified by someone in the professions listed on the application, such as a physician, optometrist, nurse, public librarian or social service professional. Persons certified as having a reading disability resulting from an organic dysfunction and of sufficient severity to prevent their reading printed material in a normal manner must be certified by a doctor of medicine or a doctor of osteopathy.

When the application has been received and approved, the patron's information will be processed and service will initiate with staff members sending the necessary equipment and samples of catalogs listing available books and magazines to the patron via postal service. Special playback equipment is loaned free to readers for as long as recorded materials provided by the Talking Book Center are being borrowed. Talking-book machines are designed to play disc books and magazines recorded as 8 rpm and 16 rpm; cassette machines are designed for cassettes recorded at 15/16 ips and the standard speed of 1-7/8 ips on 2 and 4 tracks. A reader may choose to have both a cassette player and a record player for their reading pleasure. Readers with very limited mobility may request a remote-control unit; hearing impaired readers may be eligible for an auxiliary amplifier for use with headphones. Should equipment need repair, a replacement unit is issued as soon as the broken equipment is returned to the Talking Book Center.

After this initial shipment, the patron may determine the number of books he or she wishes to receive. Books can then be ordered by phone or by mail. The number may be changed to suit the needs of the borrower and specific authors or titles may also be added to the patron's request list at any time.

There is no charge for this service to eligible readers. The books, magazines, and playback equipment are provided and sent postage free to the borrower and are returned in the same manner.

Featured Collections

• Cassette Books in Illinois (CIL): These are titles recorded in Chicago by volunteers at the Johanna Bureau for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. Selection of titles produced is made on the basis of reader demand and availability from the National Library Service.

• Flexible Disk Books (FD/RD): An older format that is still available with 7,500 titles.

• Braille Books (BR): More than 10,000 braille books are available. Many children's titles in the print/braille format are also included in this collection.

• Magazines: More than 114 popular magazines such as Good Housekeeping, Sports Illustrated, Readers Digest, Ebony, and National Geographic, are available through the library.

• Descriptive Videos (DV): These videos are enhanced with narration that describes actions, settings, gestures, and other key visual elements. All you need is a VCR and to be a registered patron of the Talking Book Center. A large print edition, recorded cassette version or a Braille catalog of titles is available.

• Braille in Illinois (BIL): There are 2,800 titles brailled by the Illinois volunteers of the Joanna Bureau.

• Interlibrary Loan: Items not available in Illinois, may be obtained elsewhere. Through the cooperation of fifty-five Regional libraries and the Multi-State Centers, borrowers have access to many more materials.

• Rotating Small Collection: Rotating collections of Talking Books may be mailed out to institutions on a regular rotating basis. Collections may be delivered and returned to your community public library, local post office, or at the Talking Book Center.

Services

• Reader's Advisory: Consultation with a reader's advisor to aide in selection of materials, answer questions about equipment and provide information about related blind services is available.

• Bibliographies: Talking Book Topics in large print or on cassette and/or Braille Book review (Both list current titles) are sent to the borrower every two months. New titles may be selected from these catalogs and will be added to the reader's request list.

• Walk-in Service: Any Chicago resident registered with the Talking Book Center is welcome to come in to the library in person and check out Braille or Talking Books. A phone call beforehand is greatly appreciated to allow staff to assist the patron in a timely manner.

• Xerox/Kurzweil-Personal Reader-Optical scanner that reads typeset and typewritten material and converts it into spoken English or Spanish. Headphones are available for user privacy.

• Telesensory Magnifier-television terminal which magnifies reading, writing and other materials up to 45 times the original size.

Programs & Outreach
Newsletters (in large print, Braille and recorded cassette) for children, young adult and adult borrowers are produced periodicals. Patron forums to discuss programs, solicit feedback to improve services and Summer Reading programs are held annually.

Speakers, Displays and Exhibits
The staff of the Talking Book Center is interested in sharing information about this program. We have speakers who will talk to large or small groups as well as materials that you can use in displays.

Volunteer Opportunities
Opportunities are available for special projects, machine repair and as outreach workers. Please call us at (312) 747-4001 to sign up.