Library services for blind, low vision, and print-disabled individuals involve so much more than books. Our library is a community of people helping people, with a number of resources available to enable a dynamic and engaging experience for all.
Join a book club. Bring your kid to our sensory wall at the Children’s Library. Or try something new like our recording lab, studio, and book narration areas. This is reading reimagined for the visually impaired.
LA Children’s Library: A Sensory Wonderland
Let your child’s imagination run wild. The Los Angeles Children’s Library Sensory Wall is an interactive mural designed to engage and captivate young minds.
From textured surfaces to musical instruments, the sensory cityscape is a playground of sensations. Created by local artists, this space provides a multi-sensory experience for both fun and developmental growth.
In addition to our Sensory Mural, the Children’s Library also offers:
- Reading and learning tech devices
- Cushions and comfortable seating
- Children’s books in different formats
Library Classes & Workshops
See What’s Happening
- Zines: How to self-publish little books of self-expression
- BARD & Victor Readers: Learn the basics
- Art & Reading: Make an art project based on an assigned BARD reading
- More
See what’s available!
Did You Know?
You can listen to your local headlines, advertisements, restaurant menus, and more through our Telephone Reader program.
Join a Book Club
Though our book clubs are held across multiple campuses, it doesn’t matter where you live. You can join any club in person or virtually.
Book clubs and themes can vary. We have offered inspiration-themed clubs, we have Spanish-speaking clubs, books for kids and adults, and general clubs that depend on what you all like to read! Here are just a few recent examples:
- The Book of Cold Cases by Simone James
- Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
- Gente Toxica by Bernardo Stamateas
- Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
- Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult
- Mindfulness by Clara Badino
If you’re interested in learning more, simply let one of our Library Advisors know, and they’ll provide you with the book details and meeting times to get you started.
Call us at 1-800-808-2555 email us at bils@brailleinstitute.org, or check out the Library Classes page.
Want to take a class?
Suggested Reads
Our Reader Advisors are the backbone of our library services for blind and low vision individuals. See what some of our advisors and staff have been reading recently. They can also recommend books to you by theme or interest area so please feel free to reach out to them.
The Rabbit Hutch
National Book Award winning novel about four teenagers—recently aged out of the state foster-care system—in the post-industrial Midwest, exploring the quest for transcendence and the desire for love.
Penguin Random House
The Good Lord Bird
McBride takes a pivotal, troubled sequence in American history—John Brown’s abolitionist campaign—and retells it in a voice as comic and original as any we have heard since Mark Twain. The Good Lord Bird is daringly irreverent, but also wise, funny, and affecting.
National Book Award, Judges Citation
Blackouts
Blackouts is a work of fiction that sees through the inventions of history and narrative. An extraordinary work of creative imagination, it insists that we look long and steady at the world we have inherited and the world we have made—a world full of ghostly shadows and flashing moments of truth.
National Book Award, Judges Citation
Head Off & Split
Head Off & Split sustains a sensitive and intense dialogue with emblematic figures and events in African American life. Artful and intense, Finney’s poems ask us to be mindful of what we fraction, fragment, cut off, dice, dishonor, or throw away, powerfully evoking both the lawless and the sublime.
Northwestern University Press
Recording Lab & Studio
We’re in the middle of an existing new project involving our recording lab & studio. This book narration project will be a series of book recordings that will be added to the National Library Service.
Focusing on small and independent presses in English and Spanish, with a portion focused on California, we will also make braille copies in paper and digital formats.
In addition to this project, the recording & lab studio will also be used for other projects like podcasts, audio zines, and more. Contact a Library Advisor to find out more.
Check It Out: Reading Technology to Borrow
- Victor Readers
- Ruby Magnifiers
- iBill Money Identifier
- E-Readers
- Digital Players
Register
Phone: 1-800-BRAILLE (272-4553)
Hours: Monday – Friday, 8:30am to 5:00pm (PT)
