Georgia Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (GLS), a division of the Georgia Public Library Service, is a free library service for Georgia residents of any age who are unable to read standard print due to a visual, physical, or reading disability. Services are delivered through a network including our walk-in library and our distribution center.
Although physically located in Atlanta, GLS serves the entire state, offering books and magazines in braille or audio formats through postage-free mail or via download.
In addition to accessible reading materials, we offer in-person and virtual library programs such as book clubs, summer reading programs, and social events.
GLS has been serving the residents of Georgia since 1931 and is a network library of the Library of Congress’ National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS)
Georgia Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (GLS) supports accessible library services in Georgia by promoting the use of assistive technology and by providing accessible reading materials to those who, due to a disability, are unable to read standard print.
The Georgia Library Service (GLS) for the Blind and Print Disabled is committed to sharing audio, braille, and large print books as well as other resources that foster a welcoming and inclusive tradition of lifelong learning and entertainment through reading. As the Georgia statewide library of the National Library Service (NLS) for the Blind and Print Disabled, we also strive to form a sense of collegiality with other states in the network in the fulfillment of NLS’s mandate, “that all may read.” Finally, fostering an environment and building a home-grown cache of titles that allows patrons to better understand the journeys, questions, and viewpoints of the diverse groups of people increasingly comprising Georgia’s growing population is a primary goal of the Local Recording Program.
Through the GDC, GLS Outreach and GLS-Atlanta teams, we live an unwavering commitment to the holistic development of nontraditional readers that compels us to offer programming and other opportunities for patrons to interact with staff and each other, thereby gaining a better understanding of their own unique preferences and gifts. The emphasis on self-empowerment in conjunction with community uplift is reportedly what makes this library experience distinctive and indispensable to our more ardent and vocal users.
Having been loosely affiliated with this program in some manner or another for nearly a decade, it is my highest professional honor to date to lead this stellar staff through daily journeys into the personal growth of some of this great state’s most overlooked and underserved readers. By sharing our message or supporting activities however best you see fit, I thank you for joining us in this very important work.
Very sincerely,
State Director: Georgia Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled
Your talking book program has been a life saver for me.
I want you to know what a priceless service you provide for the visually impaired. My mom spent hours enjoying the books that she could no longer read. You added many smiles to her already beautiful face!
My father tells me that because he is so limited in what he can do, the talking books are all the keep his mind engaged. It is always a great topic of conversation between us to hear about his latest talking book and what he learned. He calls his talking books ‘a life saver’ because it gives him something to pass the time and he so enjoys still learning event at 95.
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Free Virtual Learning Opportunities
by Sarah Trowbridge | Mar 19, 2024
Our friends at the Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library in New York City have once...