Serving the Blind and Physically Handicapped in the United States of America

Abstract

Since the early 1930s federal legislation has enabled the Library of Congress to offer free library service to blind and physically handicapped individuals resident in the United States as well as to U.S. citizens overseas. Technological changes in the program have mirrored and sometimes anticipated transformations and developments in the world of consumer electronics. Braille is now accessible over the Internet by means of specialized keyboards; audiobooks, originally cut onto rigid shellac 78-rpm disks, have progressed to flexible discs and a refined analog cassette technology that will in turn soon be replaced by digital flash-memory cartridges playable on efficient, reliable, lightweight, and portable machines. The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped looks forward to the inauguration of its new digital system in 2008.

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