The Library:
For 86 years now, the Braille Institute Library has served as Southern California’s official branch of the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS), a division of the Library of Congress. It is one of only two NLS branches that are privately operated and the only NLS Library operated by a private, nonprofit organization and serving people of all ages, at all stages of vision loss.
The award-winning Braille Library offers around 1 million books on audio, in braille, and in large-print format to over 20,000 patrons. As a result, tens of thousands of people each year use the Library to fill all their reading needs, ranging from necessary books for school or work to those for recreation and leisure. The Library offers a wide range of free programs for their patrons, including magazines and periodicals in braille and audio formats, a telephone reader program – both online and on the phone, a book-of-the-month club, descriptive videos, and more.
Braille Institute’s Library Program is the largest and among the most important the organization provides to those it serves. Many who are blind or visually impaired or who have reading or other physical disabilities cannot use standard printed materials, depriving them of reading and enjoying those materials which most take for granted.