About the Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library

General information:

40 West 20th Street (between 5th and 6th Avenues), New York, NY 10011-4211
Map & Directions

Telephone: 212-206-5400;  Toll-free in-state telephone: 855-697-6974;  24-hour voice mail: 212-206-5425;  Fax: 212-206-5418;  Email: talkingbooks@nypl.org

Monday 10 to 5; Tuesday 12 to 7; Wednesday 10 to 5; Thursday 12 to 7; Friday 10 to 5; Saturday 10 to 5; Sunday closed

Telephone Service Hours:  Monday 10 to 5; Tuesday 10 to 7; Wednesday 10 to 5; Thursday 10 to 7; Friday 10 to 5; Saturday 10 to 5; Sunday closed

Collections:

The Andrew Heiskell Library provides talking books and magazines and braille for people who are blind, blind, low vision, or have a physical or reading disability that makes it difficult to read standard print. The library serves residents who live in New York City and Long Island. To borrow Talking Books, talking book players,  and/or Braille Books, you must register with the library by meeting eligibility requirements, submitting an application with the name of a certifier.

The following collections are available from the library, either onsite or via mail service which sends talking books players, talking books, and braille to your door with free return postage, are also available to download from our website called BARD onto a flashdrive which will play in your free talking book player, and are also available to listen to on your mobile device with our free app called BARD Mobile.

Talking Books:

 We offer 160,000 titles to choose from, including classics literature, current bestsellers, poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and books for all ages. We have a robust collection of Spanish language titles as well, and a small collection of books in many other languages.  They are also called "Digital Books on Cartridge" and are listed in our catalog with the prefix DB.  We wil mail these to your door, and they can be returned for free, no postage needed.

Talking Book Players:

The library loans, free of charge, Talking Book playback machines as long as a patron borrows at least one book or magazine per year.

Magazines: 

We offer audio magazine subscriptions by mail, or to download from BARD website or the BARD Mobile app.  Check our annotated list of magazines available  in braille, digital audio (DB cartridge or download), and digital braille. Contact the library to subscribe, or just download issues through BARD or BARD Mobile. 

Choice Magazine Listening: 

can also be played on our players.  created by a separate non-profit, it is a subscription to quarterly compilations of audio recordings of memorable articles, stories, interviews, essays and poems from outstanding current magazines. Subscribe at this link.

BARD and BARD Mobile

Bookshare

New York Public Library or Andrew Heiskell Library patrons of any age with a print disability can now access Bookshare for free. Ask your librarian for the promo code.

• Books are read aloud by the synthetic voice of your computer or mobile device, while also displaying the text, highlighted as it is read. Some titles also include original images and diagrams.
• It carries not only popular titles but also textbooks, technical manuals and lesser known titles - over 900,000 to choose from.
• Questions about Bookshare or their sign-up form? Call their help center at 650-352-0198 (9 a.m. -5 p.m. Pacific Time), or visit bookshare.org or for Spanish,  https://www.bookshare.org/cms/library/nypl/spanish

 

Braille books: 

Most of these titles are offered through NLS and include grade 2 and grade 1 braille. In addition, patrons who have refreshable braille displays or braille printers may get digital braille books through our free BARD website or BARD Mobile app. We also have a collection of helpful braille books on learning braille, learning computers and apps, labelling things around the house, etc. that are available to anyone with a NYPL card. 

Free Refreshable Braille displays (braille ereaders)

We offer free refreshable braille displays to our members. These are also called braille ereaders. These can be used with cartridges of digital braille books and magazines we mail to you, or with BARD and BARD Mobile. Watch and listen to a video series on how to use our Zoomax Braille ereaders.

Large Print Books:

May be borrowed on-site with a New York Public Library card.

Braille and Tactile Graphic Reference Materials 

are available for use in the library. You can also create your own using our equipment, drawing materials, and software, as part of our Dimensions project. 

Early Braille and Tactile Learning Kits

We have  6 steps of learning kits that may be checkout out by anyone with a NYPL card.  For more information see our FAQs

Music Services:

Scores and music instruction on cassette, records, and in braille and large print are available from the National Library Service's Music Services division. Call 1-800-424-8567 for assistance. 

National Federation of the Blind (NFB) Newsline:

Hundreds of newspapers are available in synthetic speech for eligible readers using a touch-tone telephone or mobile device app. Library members can register for this service directly from NFB by calling 1-866-504-7300.

Children's Books 

in standard print and large print, as well as in Talking Book format and in braille or twin-view, are available on site for checkout.

For more information about the talking book service,  such as how to return books, when to expect books, how to get the kind of books you like, and more, see our FAQ.

 

Reserve a PC 

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Assistive Technology and Technology Coaching at the Andrew Heiskell Library

Technology Workshops: 

Ongoing classes are currently being offered in English for Basic Computer Skills, Windows, non-visual typing through an adaptive software training system, downloading books from BARD, JAWS screen reader, MAGiC screen enlarging software, iPads and other iOS devices, VoiceOver, NVDA screen reader, and the Kurzweil computers. Other workshops for more advanced students are available on GarageBand, Social Media, apps for independence,  non-visual coding and robotics, photography/videography while blind, database research, and more. Class offerings are always changing and expanding, so please let us know what else you would like to learn about. Call the library at 212-206-5400 to make an register or to find out more.

 

Individual Technology Coaching

We’re here to help you pursue whatever goal you have! Volunteer tech coaches are available to assist new and experienced computer users. Get help with using an iphone’s accessibility features, browsing the internet with screenreaders or screenenlargers, doing email, downloading audio books from BARD or BARD Mobile, typing, learning accessible computer games, and more. The coaches read with braille and print, use text-to-speech technology, and speak a variety of languages including Spanish and Turkish. To make a coaching appointment, call 212-621-0627 or email ChanceyFleet@nypl.org.

The Dimensions Lab for Tactiles creation :

Equipment onsite:

Kurzweil Computers: The library has computers equipped with Kurzweil Reading software for public use. These devices scan text and convert it into synthetic speech. To make an appointment to use this equipment or to learn more about it, please call the library at 212-206-5400.

Adaptive Computer Technology: The library has computers equipped with JAWS screen reader, MAGic screen enlarging software, Duxbury braille translation software, braille embossers, TactileView software, a Swellform machine, and refreshable braille displays. To make an appointment to learn how to use these, or to reserve use of the refreshable braille display, please call the library at 212-206-5400. JAWS requires typing ability; MAGic requires users to be able to type and to use a computer mouse.

Closed Circuit Television (CCTVs): These devices can enlarge text up to sixty times and can be adjusted for brightness, contrast, reverse image, and color scheme.  Our Optelec Clearview Plus Speech will also read aloud the text, in a variety of different voices and can read many languages.

Other Equipment: The library has handheld magnifiers, personal portable magnifying and reading machines, braille writers, a Perkins Smart Brailler, an InTact sketchpad for creating tactile drawings, a braille caliper, a Victor reader, an Apple computer, a Humanware ScannR, 3Doodlers, a MakerMakey,  refreshable braille displays, and braille and large-print keyboards.  Make an appointment to use or learn about any of these. In addition, there is a sound amplification system to assist the hearing impaired who wish to enjoy our public programs.

We also host an annual Community, Culture and Technology Fair where patrons can try out and learn about new equipment and technological advances in the field.

To find out what adaptive programs, services, and equipment are available at other New York Public Library branches, check services for persons with disabilities.

Other Programs and Services Available at Andrew Heiskell Library:

We host a variety of adult programs,  including writing workshops, hands-on art workshops, concerts, guide dog users meetup groups, support groups, talks about vision loss, talks by visually impaired artists, community resource and engagement fairs, and an oral history project.  We have a children's room with toys and books, and hold regular children's programs and storytimes.

Community Advisory Council

Audio Book Recording Studio

The Audio Book Studio uses state of the art technology to digitally record books to supplement the National Library Service's collection.  We focus  on biooks of particular New York interest of those of interest to the diverse communities of New York City.  These recordings are uploaded to BARD, listed in the National Library Service's catalog and in the Andrew Heiskell Library's PAWS catalog.

Volunteers — many of whom are professionals from the theater, academia, and the business world — record, monitor, and proofread the books. If you are interested in volunteering, please call the library at 212-206-5400.  We are always looking for new volunteers! 

Services to Institutions

 

A Short History of the Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library

1995, the centennial year of The New York Public Library, also marked the 100th anniversary of the Andrew Heiskell Library. This brief history is from the brochure the library produced to commemorate the event.

When applying for a patent for his tinfoil phonograph in 1877, Thomas Edison listed "phonograph books, which will speak to blind people without effort on their part" as one of the ten potential uses for his invention. Phonograph and record technology was in need of considerable development, however, before talking books could become a viable medium.

The New York Free Circulating Library for the Blind was established in 1895 by Richard Randall Ferry, a wealthy hat manufacturer who suddenly became blind. When this budding braille collection was formally incorporated into The New York Public Library in 1903, it was housed in a Manhattan neighborhood parish house. The collection was moved to the St. Agnes Branch at 444 Amsterdam Avenue in 1906, and was again relocated to a larger site in the Central Building at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street in 1911. Library staff provided home braille instruction and free delivery of books to those persons who were unable to travel to the Central Building's Reading Room.

Throughout her adult career, Helen Keller was renowned as both a supporter of libraries and a staunch advocate for improved braille services for blind and deaf-blind individuals.

Pictured: A letter written by Helen Keller. She used a standard typewriter to draft the letter to head librarian Lucille A. Goldthwaite. The printed signature is her own. [Text version of the letter]

An alternative medium still had to be found for the large proportion of blind and visually impaired persons who, because of aging or other physical disabilities, lacked the fingertip sensitivity needed to read braille with ease.

Technology for reproducing the sounds of the human voice had come a long way since the invention of the first tinfoil phonograph. The revolving cylinder of the 19th century was replaced by the 78 rpm flat platter. But these early disk recordings posed a number of problems: high cost, limited playing time, excessive weight, and fragility.

The 1930s' advances in radio engineering and motion picture soundtrack technology, which accelerated the development of the slow speed, close-grooved record, were soon to make Thomas Edison's vision of the "talking book" a practical reality.

In 1931, federal legislation authorized an annual appropriation to the Library of Congress for the production of braille books for blind adults, to be distributed nationally through a system of regional libraries. The New York Public Library was one of the 19 original participants in this newly established network. Three years later, talking books on LP phonograph records were introduced into the program.

Historical documents such as the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, a number of Shakespeare's plays and poems, and a variety of fictional works were among the first talking books issued. In order to meet the public's hungry demand for a broader selection of reading materials, the Library of Congress came up with a mechanism for obtaining permission from publishers to record printed works royalty free.

Space constraints at the central building led the Library to move the braille and talking book collections to an annex facility located at 137 West 25th Street in 1938.

A thriving depression-era WPA project supported the ongoing manufacture and repair of free talking book machines for eligible readers. WPA funding for the production of machines and parts expired in 1942 as the nation's resources were committed to the World War II effort. Existing federal laws specifying preferential treatment for U.S. military personnel blinded in service to their country enabled regional libraries to supply talking books and playback equipment to postwar rehabilitation centers.

Early recording sessions required a flawless rendition in a single take, as editing techniques had not yet been perfected. Props commonly used in popular radio shows of the day-such as the bell and seltzer bottle shown in this photograph-provided the desired sound effects.

Pictured: Blind technicians testing talking book machines in a late 1930s Works Progress Administration (WPA) employment program.

In the program's first decade, famous persons often read from their own works. Among the participating celebrities were: Eleanor Roosevelt (This Is My Story), Stephen Vincent Benet (John Brown's Body), and W. Somerset Maugham (Of Human Bondage). In subsequent years, the evolving talent pool included such luminaries of stage, screen, and radio as Eva Le Gallienne, Joan Crawford, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, and Alfred Drake.

One of the program's most prolific and beloved narrators was actor Alexander Scourby. Mr. Scourby recorded more than 400 titles for the program over nearly half a century-including The Bible, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, and Joyce's Ulysses.

Pictured: Narrators recording The Romantic Age for the talking book program in 1938. L-R, facing camera: Lloyd Bridges, Ann Tyrrell, George Coppin, Wesley Addy, George Keane, Alwin Back, William Nichols, and Peggy Converse.

The talking book program exercises great care in choosing just the right voice to be reproduced on a given recording. Preparation by the narrator entails verification of pronunciation, analyzing the work's flavor and mood, studying the characters in order to portray them accurately, and working out dialects and inflection. Library patrons frequently express a desire to read anything recorded by a favored narrator.

A federal law enacted in 1952 extended Braille and talking book service to children. Additional legislation applying to individuals who were unable to read or use standard printed materials due to physical limitations other than blindness was passed in 1966. Persons having difficulty holding a book or turning pages because of such conditions as cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, or a stroke were now entitled to receive this library service. The new law also applied to persons with medically diagnosed reading disabilities such as dyslexia.

The library moved to more substantial quarters at 166 Avenue of the Americas at Spring Street in 1953. During the 1960s, the materials collection continued to grow, and recorded media formats such as open-reel tapes, audiocassettes, and flexible discs gradually emerged.

While automation of circulation procedures and patron files provided a major service enhancement, this building's insufficient shelving capacity led to the eventual removal of the braille collection to a library unit located off-site. Architectural barriers precluding wheelchair access, as well as a lack of space for public reading rooms, underscored the Library's overwhelming need for a new facility.

The 1970s heralded technology breakthroughs which offered persons with print impairment increased access to the vast wealth of information resources available throughout Central and neighborhood branch libraries.

In 1978, The New York Public Library became the first public library system in the world to offer Kurzweil Reading Machine service. This optical scanning device converts printed text into synthetic speech-thus extending the thousands of books and periodicals not available in braille or recorded formats to a whole new population of readers. Other electronic reading aids, such as closed-circuit television magnifiers, allow the user to adjust the size, contrast, and brightness of the letters on a page.

The audio book Studio opened at the 58th Street Branch of The New York Public Library in 1981. Created to supplement the holdings available in the national collection by recording talking book titles of local interest, the Studio continuously recruits and trains a talented team of volunteer narrators, monitors, and reviewers.

Volunteers have held a place of honor throughout this Library's history. Selected activities on behalf of the service, conducted over the years by scores of dedicated men and women, have included machine repair, tape duplication, braille transcription, legislative and budget action, and live literary readings at public events.

On December 12, 1991, the Andrew Heiskell Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped opened its doors at 40 West 20th Street. Situated in Manhattan's "Ladies Mile" historic district, this Central Library Service occupies the lower six floors of a renovated 1910 neo-renaissance loft building. The facility is still a regional library in the Library of Congress National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped network. All collections and services have been consolidated under one roof.

Behind-the-scenes operations include an expanded Audio Book Studio, as well as a high-volume materials-handling system designed to process 5,000 items per day for shipment to registered individuals, schools, and institutions based in New York City and Long Island.

The building features barrier-free architecture; reading rooms which house browsing collections of braille, recorded, and large-print books; a children's room and young adult section; and an outdoor reading terrace. Spaces have been allocated for new electronic information resources, and public meeting rooms are able to accommodate a wide range of cultural and educational programs.

As the Andrew Heiskell Library moves into the 21st century, The New York Public Library's continuing commitment to the provision of quality public service, coupled with the promise of future publishing innovations and technological development, will ensure "That All May Read."

The library was renamed in 1991 in honor of Andrew Heiskell, pictured at the right, who was the former Chairman of the Board of Trustees, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. Andrew Heiskell's efforts to galvanize support for construction of the current building was one of his many extraordinary achievements during his chairmanship from 1981–1990. 

The library is now a full service central library providing a circulation collection, full access service five days a week, a 24 hour phone line for patrons to order books any time of the day or evening, an online catalog unique to our collections, and free delivery of Braille books, books on tape and the playback machines for those tapes.

[Original pamphlet  "Celebrating One Hundred Years" published by The New York Public Library, The Branch Libraries, 1996]
Photo research & exhibit notes: Diane Wolfe
Special appreciation is extended to Robert Sink, Archivist, The New York Public Library

References

Koestler, Frances A. The Unseen Minority: A Social History of Blindness in America. New York: David McKay, 1976.

Majeska, Marilyn L. Talking Books: Pioneering and Beyond. Washington, D.C.: National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, The Library of Congress, 1988.

National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. That All May Read: Library Service for Blind and Physically Handicapped People. Washington, D.C.: The Library of Congress, 1983.