braille services

BRAILLE SERVICES

WHAT IS BRAILLE?

Braille is a system for tactile reading and writing. It uses characters formed by the combination of six raised dots that are arranged in a Braille cell. One Braille cell consists of two columns of three dots each. These cells make up a letter or word. The left side of the cell is referred to as dots 1,2,3. The right side of the cell is referred to as dots 4,5,6.

This is the Braille Alphabet and Numbers:

In 1829, Louis Braille developed this language for people who are blind. Braille is read by using your fingers. Children are taught Braille when they start school and it may take two years. An adult may want to learn Braille because of vision loss, or to become a Braille transcriber. In this case it may take 6 months up to two years.

The Volunteer Braille Service's mission is to get high quality Braille and large print materials to all individuals. All the volunteers are certified through the Library of Congress. The Volunteer Braille Service is known for their work in Nemeth (math), foreign languages, science, history, literature and social studies. It takes about nine months to a year to complete a textbook. Other areas for request are menus, legal documents, materials for conferences, greeting cards, correspondence, manuals, medical records, maps, graphs and drawings. Anything that appears in print can be transcribed into Braille.

Fees and Shipping Information

Our fee schedule is forty (40) cents per Braille page and large print is twenty (20) cents per page. Each volume is bound with two covers costing $2.50.

There is a variety of shipping options including UPS Ground, UPS 1st Day Over Night, UPS 2nd Day, Fed Ex, First Class and Free Matter.

The American Printing House for the Blind has a national database. Registered on this database is every book completed in Braille, large print or audio recording, along with information on where the book can be purchased. When searching for a particular book, you will need the full title and the ISBN number. Having these two things will make your search faster and easier. Access the APH database. Contact American Printing House for the Blind via phone by calling 1-800-223-1839.  

ORDERING INFORMATION

To request a book to be transcribed in Braille, an Educational Request Form must be completed and either faxed to our Braille Coordinator at (216) 791-1101, or sent via email.

• Download an Educational Request Form in Word format - this may be completed on your computer and sent via email.
• Download an Education Request Form in PDF format - this may be completed by hand or typed and sent via fax.
• Click here for a list of books our Volunteer Braille Service has already transcribed in Braille or large print.

Please Note: Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view and print PDF information.