[blParent] finding textbook resources

[David Andrews]

People have given you a couple good sources. NLS is not a good source 
of textbooks! That is not their strength.

You can look up the availability of  Braille books on the Louis 
database from aph, www.aph.org/louis

Most states have systems for providing books to students, you would 
go through your school district. Most states have what is called an 
Instructional Resource Center, IRC. They loan and sell books to each 
other all the time.

Dave

At 02:42 PM 8/2/2021, dawn stumpner via BlParent wrote:
>Hi
>     I have once again run into difficulties finding material in 
> braille for what I would think would be a popular subject: a 
> Spanish textbook.  I have been teaching my teenage son Spanish, and 
> although I speak Spanish well, I am at a point where I feel like a 
> textbook with organized grammar points and vocabulary topics would 
> be very useful.  I contacted my NLS library, which is currently in 
> Utah, but they had only one textbook, which I tried but which was 
> more of a long list of grammatical features than a set of 
> lessons.  They did say that another textbook, also decades old, 
> might be available through inter-library loan, so I thought that 
> would be a good start and waited to receive it that way.  When I 
> hadn't heard anything for a couple of weeks, I asked if I could 
> contact the agency from which it was coming.  They said library 
> patrons could not do that, and that the NLS library could, but that 
> they'd prefer to wait a few more weeks before contacting them and 
> that it likely was not available and there were no other titles.
>     I asked them whether it might be possible to borrow books 
> through an inter-library loan or any other way from another state's 
> NLS library as I think some states such as California, Texas, 
> Arizona, etc.  which have many Spanish speakers would be a good 
> resource to find a textbook.  I also asked if there is a repository 
> somewhere that might have braille books that have been produced for 
> blind high school and college students and that can lend them out 
> or make them available somehow as it would seem odd for such a 
> valuable resource of books to just be destroyed or put into 
> indefinite storage.  They didn't respond to either of those two 
> questions in the email, but just responded that if I had the title 
> of a specific book, I could request it.
>     I know there are some resources in recorded format, but I need 
> braille textbooks to see spelling, accents, etc.
>     This is not the first time I have run into difficulty finding 
> braille books on seemingly popular topics such as workout routines, 
> health issues, popular fantasy authors, etc.  It's also common that 
> I ask two or three related questions and have all but one question 
> ignored.  I am always very polite in my requests, but they don't 
> even sign their names in their emails, so it's hard to know from 
> one time to the next if I'm even talking to the same person.
>     Does anyone know if there is a repository (or repositories) of 
> books high school and college students have had brailled and then 
> not taken afterward? What happens to them? Do you know if you can 
> borrow books from other states in or out of the NLS system? Also, 
> do you know if it is possible to request to belong to a different 
> NLS library? My recorded books come from Milwaukee, and I used to 
> get my braille books from Chicago, which worked out very well as I 
> am in Wisconsin.  Then several years ago, I was switched to Utah 
> for my braille books, which is much farther away and has not been 
> as pleasant of an experience.  Has anyone else had these kinds of difficulties?
>     I would appreciate any suggestions.
>     Thanks a lot!
>               Dawn Stumpner