Evening star., 1936-03-21

MAKERS OF LIGHT
Blind Workers at National Library
for Sightless Lift Gloom Surrounding
Fellow-Suferers Through Braille Books.

aspect Of Braille book making, for
the blind man not only enjoys an op.
portunity for so signally useful life.
but also chance to tighten the dark
ness Of his fellow-man.
But Braille book production Is large
scale building, and quality building as
we'll Consequently. it is expensive.
There is, of course, such a thing as
machine transcription of books into
Braille. Metal plates made for this
purpose permit a great number of
copies of book to be run of, but the
choicer, less popular books are so much
less in demand that they seldom are
machine transcribed.
WHAT types of books do the blind
prefer? Action stories, as Offer
ing the most marked contrast with
their own lives? Action stories are
popular, but no more SO than other
types. History has its following So
does philosophy. Political science is
popular with certain groups. The fact
is, according to Rev. Paul Sperry,
library director the taste of the blind
reading public is quite as broad as
that Of the average group.
The blind reader does not change in
his literary tastes, but carries over
into his less fortunate estate the same
preferences as before his affection.
The popular books of the moment
hn
list, including fiction, travel, biog-
raphy, political science. Among the
titles on the list one finds Ann Lind
bergh's North to the Orient; I. A. r.
Wylies Feather in Her Hat: ''Silas
Crockett" by Mary Ellen Chase; Mi
jinsky," Haskin's American Govern
ment Today" Wagenknecht's "Biog.
raphy Of Mark Twain"
Necessarily the library is slightly
behind the general run of the book
trade, but its best" list follows SUBJ
stantially that of the broader field.
While Braille books are the most
common of the media which carry the
light Of literature into the world Of
the blind, there are others. Moon type
is used, although on a much more
limited scale. 1t is a more elemental
system of transcription, involving the
embossing Of letters similar to the
capital letters of the alphabet.
NEWEST of the departures in the
production of books for the sight
less is the talking book" Funda-
mentally, the talking book is me-
chanical substitute for the human
reader to the blind; a vocal transcript
ton of the book to series of phono-
graph records. These additions to the
librarys shelves are the gift Of the
American Foundation for the Blind.
The limitation upon the widespread
use of talking books" of course, is
that it involves the purchase Of re-
production equipment on the part of
the book borrower. In spite of this,
the library'S list includes 2,l68 talk
ing book" titles, for which there is
a strong demand. This phase Of its
work gives promise of steady growth.
Talking books, like those in Braille,
are rather elaborate productions. It
takes 20 records for. the transcription.
Of H. G. Wells Short History of the
World" From 2 to l3 records are
despatched at one time to an indi-
vidual talking book reader.
Eraille, however, remains the basis
of the ibrary's took collection.
TNHTC Uoar rnorHS ho
anniversary of the establishment
of the National Library for the Blind,
which. in fact as well as in name,
transcends the geographic limits Of
the National Capital. Thomas Nelson
Page and Miss Eta Josselyn Giffin
were leaders of the founding group,
which included such prominent fig
ures as Charles ]. Bell. Emile Ber-
liner, Charles Curtis, Miss Ella I.
Dorsey, Duncan U. Fletcher, Charles
C. Glover, Thomas P. Gore, Mrs. John
]. Hamilton, Miss Mary S. Lawrence,
Mrs. Woodrow Wilson and DR.. William
Holland Wilmer.
Braille books were vastly more rare
and expensive to produce in 1911.
but the group was determined that
no effort should be spared in making
books available to the blind in their
homes.
Direct financial assistance on the
part of the Federal Government, the
opening Of the mails free to the
library in sending its books to sub
scribers, has proved an extremely
helpful form of indirect assistance,
but public subscriptions always have
provided the basic financing.
AS this year, when $25,000 Is being
sought. they have been asked on
the basis that the money Is spent
entirely in the cause of lighting an
otherwise dark world. Not only asked,
but granted!