Braille Library & Transcribing Services, Inc.

formerly Volunteer Braillists & Tapists, Inc.

.5% of all Amazon sales to BLTS

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Contact Us

Braille Library & Transcribing Services, Inc.
6501 Watts Rd, Ste. 149
Madison, WI 53719
USA

Phone: 608-233-0222
Fax: 608-233-0249

For library requests or general questions email:
office@bltsinc.org

For braille transcription requests, email:
braille .blts@tds.net

Hours

10:00 AM to 1:00 PM (Central Standard Time)
Monday through Friday

Board of Directors:

Steve Levine
President
Vonna Johnson-Porter
Vice President
Patricia Herrling
Secretary, Librarian
Sue Nelson
Treasurer
Constance Risjord
Sandy Adams
Karen Perzentka

Office Staff:

Aaron Konkol
Office Manager
Sue Danz
Braille Coordinator

NEWS:

Click HERE for the list of new Print Braille books in UEB

Click HERE for our most recent "Dear Pearl" newsletter (March, 2018)

In March of 2016 Jan Wilson wrote a wonderful piece on BLTS for In Business Magazine!
Click HERE to read the article online:

Three ways to get the braille you need:

Request transcription
On loan from our library
Buy your own copy from our library

1. Request Transcription

We transcribe almost anything you need or want.

Textbooks and school materials.
Job-related materials.
Leisure reading books for children and adults.
Daily living materials: cookbooks, appliance instruction manuals, computer manuals, inspirational writings, knitting and crocheting patterns, and crossword puzzles.
Practical items such as menus, bank statements, agendas, minutes of meetings, and playbills.

2. Braille Library

Our shelves hold over 2,000 titles for children and adults, and our collection is always being enlarged and updated. There is no charge for borrowing our books; just tell us your name and contact information and we'll get you started. Everyone receives an annual list of the year's new books at the beginning of the year, in braille or print, according to your stated preference when you sign up. Hard copies of our online inventory are available in braille or print and are updated every January. They are available for loan or sale, just like our library books.

Lending Library Policies

3. Price List

If you have something to be transcribed or are interested in purchasing a copy from our library, see our price list. Please contact BLTS for availability.

Taping

We record the information you need, if it is not commercially available. Tapes are for sale only; we do not have a listening library.

Become a Volunteer Braille Transcriptionist

If you couldn’t see, how would you read your utility bill? menu? cookbook? novel? It takes trained transcribers to turn print into braille for the visually impaired. The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped offers that training through local mentors at BLTS. The 12-month course consists of weekly classes held in our offices on Watts Road in Madison, and culminates in certification by the Library of Congress. A $50 fee covers all materials. After certification, all transcription is done at home using a computer.

Why Volunteer?

Braille is expensive to produce. A $30 print book costs close to $500 in braille. That is why our braillists are volunteers, and why BLTS subsidizes 70% of the actual cost of books that we sell to individuals and students.

Braille Library & Transcribing Services, Inc. is a Madison-based non-profit Wisconsin (USA) corporation dedicated to providing print materials in braille or on audio cassette. Our philosophy is that everyone should have the opportunity to read. BLTS serves visually- or print-impaired persons regardless of age, race, religion, sex, or national origin.

This page was last updated on January 18th, 2019.

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