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Books | Magazines on Tape | Online Texts | Descriptive Video | Newsline | Web-Braille | Music | Equipment
Talking Books Plus Online Catalog
NLS produces certain magazines in special media at no charge for Talking Books Plus patrons through the Magazine Program. Contact Talking Books Plus for information on subscribing.
Magazines are available in braille, cassette, computer diskette, electronic access, and large print formats. See the Media Index to determine what publications are available in each format.
Following are links to texts that are available free online. Most online books are those in the public domain and have no copyright restrictions.
In cooperation with the Lincoln Public Library, a limited number of descriptive videos are available to Talking Books Plus users. The library will mail a video or DVD directly to you through the U.S. Postal Service upon request. Call the Lincoln Public Library at 401-333-2422, and ask for video recordings for people with visual disabilities.
Through Rhode Island Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Rhode Islanders who cannot read conventional print have access to over 100 daily newspapers and magazines, including the Providence Journal, USA Today, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal.
How to use NEWSLINE
With only a touch-tone telephone, any registered user can access the NEWSLINE service. No computer is needed and no special training is required. After entering an ID number and security code, the system prompts new callers to make their selections.
Once in the paper, listeners can select the section of the newspaper they wish to hear: sports, news, business section, and more. Pressing a single key on the telephone keypad will quickly move listeners from one article to the next, skip ahead in the article, return to a previous article, change the speaking speed, change the reading voice, or spell out words. The keystrokes are few and easy to remember.
Readers may choose a newspaper headline, article, or section using a standard touch-tone telephone. There is no charge for this service, and it is available 24 hours a day from any touchtone phone nationwide.
For more information about this free service, please contact Linda Hughes at Rhode Island Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired, 222-2300, ext. 423.
Web-Braille is an internet service that provides electronic access to materials published in braille format. These materials may be read online, or downloaded to a braille notetaker or embosser. At present the National Library Service collection contains nearly 6,000 books, magazine titles, and musical scores.
Contact Talking Books Plus for more information.
Music services are provided directly to readers from NLS in Washington, D.C., in contrast to literary braille and recorded materials and playback machines that are distributed by the national network of cooperating libraries. The program of music services includes a circulating collection of braille, large print, and recorded instructional materials and a subscription program of magazines produced in braille, on cassette, and in large print. Musical recordings intended solely for listening are not part of the music collection, as these materials are readily available from stores and local public libraries.
The National Library Service talking book cassettes are not recorded the same way commercial records and cassettes are recorded. The cassettes in the Rhode Island Talking Books collection are recorded on 4-tracks per cassette at 15/16 inches per second. You must have a special 4-track cassette player to use these cassettes. The talking book machine and 4-track cassette player are furnished free on indefinite loan, and you can keep the equipment as long as you remain active by borrowing one audio book or magazine per calendar year. There is no deposit payment for this equipment.
Standard C1 Player
Easy Cassette Player
Repair and Maintenance
If your playback machine breaks, contact Talking Books Plus to request a replacement. Replacement or repair is at no cost. Readers are allowed only one cassette player in their possession. If your records are in order, a new machine will be mailed to you immediately. Mail the defective machine back to Talking Books in its original container. Just turn over the card on the outside of the box and return the machine via the U.S. Postal Service.
Headphones
Headphones are available to readers who require headphones where listening to talking books may disturb others, such as in hospitals or nursing homes.
Machines and accessories can be mailed under Free Matter mailing
privileges. Do not pay postage to return or exchange equipment.
Office of Library and Information Services, One Capitol Hill, Providence RI 02908-5803, (401)574-9300; Fax: (401)574-9320
Partial funding for this website and programs of the Office of Library and Information Services
is
provided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.