The library for the Blind in Poland – Polish Association of the Blind

The library was established by Polish Association of the Blind, and existed for 60 years. It’s located in the main office of our organization in Warsaw. Since 2013 library is financed from state budget.

Main task of library is collecting, sharing and adapting books for visually impaired readers and others readers with disabilities who can’t read ordinary print.

Dział dla Niewidomych GBPiZS

TARGET GROUP

Library mission is to promote reading among people who are blind and visually impaired. Currently collections in the brail alphabet is used by over 630 people.

The rental audiobooks are recorded for almost 5 thousand people. Nearly 2,5 thousands users has account in the on-line library.

ORGANIZATION

The library is managed by a blind person. On 21 employees of library 14 is blind or visual impaired. Full-time workers are also two guide dogs – Focus and Via. They don’t lend books, but help their owners get to work.

BOOKS IN THE LIBRARY

  • fiction,
  • popular science,
  • guides and dictionaries,
  • books in foreign languages,
  • magazines for blind and visually impaired.
The collections also includes books in Braille alphabet on history, geography, literature and mathematics.

Library promotes reading Braille books

Publications in the Braille alphabet is the oldest and most diverse of books. This collections includes textbooks, dictionaries, maps, atlases, nineteenth century prints and manuscripts. Braille collection has 50 thousand volumes.

Adiobooks

Initially audiobooks were recorded on tape. For several years on CD and digital format (Daisy standard and Czytak format). This collections includes radio plays and novels recorded by famous polish actors.

The entire collections has about 500 thousands compact cassettes, 6 thousands music disc and about 7 thousands titles in digital format.

Collections divisions:

  • Typhlological collection – this are scientific positions focusing on the rehabilitation of the visually impaired. Library has 4,5 thousands volumes of this kind books. All books are in the ordinary print.
  • Movies with audio descriptions – films with additional soundtrack, with verbal descriptions of visually contend displayed on the screen. There were more than 100 films.
  • Music discs – collection of classical and popular music only in place at library. It consists about 3500  disc.
  • Digital text – literature written in a way that allows reading on synthetic speech. This collections has about 2 thousand titles.

ACCESIBILITY OF COLLECTION

Library readers are adults, children and teenagers.

Lending books is available:

  • On place in the library
  • By e-mail order
  • Electronically by authorized remote access to digital interlibrary online loan service
  • In Warsaw there is also available service of transportation books to home of the library user.

ADDITIONAL OFFER:

  • Scanning books on request,
  • Printing texts and books in Braille to individual needs,
  • Writing transcriptions for public institutions – conversions of text into Braille alphabet,
  • Conducting journals for blind and visually impaired,
  • Conduction an e-mail discussion list for librarians interested in issues of access to the collections to the blind, and mailing list for the readers, dedicated to the socio-cultural issues.

CONTACT:

www.dzdn.pl

Associate director of Library: Monika Cieniewska,  m.cieniewska@dzdn.pl

tel./fax 22 635 33 20, tel. 22 831 22 71 wew. 222

 

Author of the good practice : Anna Woźniak-Szymańska, prezes@pzn.org.pl