WTBBL closed to public
As of July 1, 2025, the library building is open by appointment only and phones go to voicemail due to loss of funding. Services continue as usual. To request an appointment, call 800-542-0866 or email [email protected].
Braille Book Production
WTBBL produces braille books in Unified English Braille (UEB) for our local collection, many of which become available to National Library Service (NLS) patrons across the country via the Braille and Audio Reading Download (BARD) site. We supplement the NLS collection by brailling books about the Pacific Northwest, by Pacific Northwest authors, and those that fill collection gaps. Creating braille books takes people with special skills.
Titles we produce are selected by our Collection Development Committee in accordance with our Collection Development Policy. Once selected, our Braille Department passes along the print book or an electronic file to a volunteer braille transcriber. Our braille transcribers have taken a braille transcription course, are actively learning braille on their own, and/or are experienced braillists. Once the book has been transcribed into braille, it is reviewed by our volunteer braille proofreading teams. These teams are made up of a tactile braille reader and a sighted print copy reader who work together to ensure that the braille text is the same as the print text and follows the conventions specified by the Braille Formats Principles of Print-to-Braille Transcription. Learn more about this process by watching our video.
We produce ebraille and hardcopy braille books for adults and children, including print/braille books--print books with clear braille overlay that allow sighted and blind individuals, such as parents and children, to read and share stories together. Check out our most recently produced titles.
Please note that we are not a commercial braille service and focus solely on producing books for the NLS Collection. If you need to have material brailled or embossed, please visit our Braille Resources page. If you are in Washington state and looking for braille textbooks, please contact the Ogden Resource Center at the Washington State School for the Blind.
If you would like to request that we consider a particular book for production for the NLS Collection, please read our Collection Development Policy and complete a Request for Production form. All braille books we produce are intended exclusively for NLS patrons. Unless the author is also an NLS patron, we are unable to provide them with a copy.