Tennessee Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped Highlighted During National Library Week

The Tennessee State Library and Archives wishes to acknowledge National Library Week this week by turning our attention to one of the crown jewels of the Secretary of State's office. The jewel in that crown is the Tennessee Library for the Blind & Physically Handicapped.

LBPH's book collection of over 50,000 titles includes popular fiction and nonfiction, best sellers, classics, history, biographies, religious literature, children's books and books in foreign language. There are also 70 popular magazines available.

The Tennessee Library for the Blind & Physically Handicapped (LBPH) is Tennessee’s only public library with the mission to provide library services to all Tennesseans who have physical disabilities - permanent or temporary - that prevent them from reading standard print.

LBPH gives you the freedom to read your way, in the format you prefer, including braille.

The library’s collections include the same types of books and magazines for all ages that are available for loan from a typical Tennessee public library, including popular fiction and non-fiction, mysteries, westerns, love stories, and classics ranging from Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty to Plato’s Republic. The only difference is that these books are in audio, braille and large print formats.

A patron utilizing BARD: Braille and Audio Reading Download.

In order to borrow books and/or magazines from the Tennessee Library for the Blind & Physically Handicapped, people must have physical disabilities that prevent them from reading standard print. Eligible disabilities include:

1. blindness
2. low vision—if a person needs large print, they are eligible to borrow any of our formats
3. a manual dexterity problem that prevents someone from holding a book and/or turning pages, such as cerebral palsy or arthritis
4. a reading disability, certified by a doctor of medicine or osteopathy on the application as being of a physical origin

Audio books provide patrons of all ages a window into the world of literature.

 
For more information or to obtain an application, visit the LBPH’s website at: http://www.tn.gov/tsla/lbph/index.htm, or call the LBPH at (800) 342-3308. You may also visit the library, which is located inside the Tennessee State Library & Archives at 403 Seventh Avenue North, Nashville, TN.

 

The State Library and Archives is a division of the Tennessee Department of State and Tre Hargett, Secretary of State.