On a recent visit to Macon, some members of the GLS staff were lucky enough to get up close and personal with one of the hidden gems of Georgia library collections: the braille books at historic Washington Memorial Library.
It may surprise you to learn that the Macon library has a braille collection available for loan. We knew this was a secret that was ready to be shared. Determined to make these books accessible to everyone, and to assist braille readers and learners in finding them, we asked the Washington Memorial librarians to guide us to the collection.
Up on the third floor, in a corner of the children’s department, we discovered more than 400 braille titles for pre-teen readers and younger. One floor down, a handful of braille books for teens are shelved with the rest of the young adult collection. The entire collection of braille books at Washington Memorial is aimed at a youthful audience; no adult titles are offered. Classic authors like Beverly Cleary and Dr. Seuss are well represented, as are popular book series such as Arthur, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Magic Tree House, Percy Jackson, and Wings of Fire.
Valuable learning materials are also part of the collection. Just Enough to Know Better: A UEB Braille Primer by Eileen P. Curran is available in English or Spanish, with text in both print and braille. With a wide selection of engaging board books, adapted to include braille on every page, the whole family can access and enjoy the power of reading from the very start.
While the collection is available for in-person browsing and checkout, it is also open to all PINES library card holders throughout the state of Georgia. Using the online PINES catalog at gapines.org, library users can find braille titles and request to have them transferred to a local library for checkout. GLS patrons with a PINES card on their account may request to borrow books from the Macon braille collection and receive them by mail at no cost.
We encourage all Georgians to explore this treasure trove of braille library books for kids. For GLS patrons and non-patrons alike, this is just one more way to benefit from your Georgia libraries.
