If you have difficulty reading or experience trouble with holding the printed page comfortably due to a physical disability, the Sarasota County Libraries offers a solution that will allow you to enjoy reading on your own. Through a partnership with the Pinellas Talking Book Library, we can help residents get connected with the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress. The program is provided through a nationwide network of cooperating libraries that lend reading materials to residents of the United States who are unable to read or use regular print materials because of a temporary or permanent visual or physical disability.
The braille and talking book program is a free library service that lends high-quality talking books, the easy-to-use talking book players needed to play them, braille and large print books, and digital magazines. The materials are circulated by postage-free U.S. mail. Downloadable talking books and magazines in audio formats are also available online and on the go through the Braille and Audio Reading Download (BARD) service and the BARD mobile app for both iOS and Android smartphones and tablets.
To apply for this free service, you can pick up an application form at any of the nine Sarasota County Libraries or complete the online form at loc.gov/ThatAllMayRead and a National Library Service representative from the Pinellas Talking Book Library will contact you. As a new reader, you will receive a digital player and books, as well as catalogs of the materials that are available. The library collection has thousands of recreational reading titles to choose from in fiction and non-fiction from pre-school to adult. Please encourage those who may be eligible for the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped services to visit the library and learn more. Spread the word that all may read! Find your Connections, Find Yourself at the Library!
Here are the library events for this week:
Saturday
- Suncoast Writers Guild meets at 10:00 a.m.
- LEGO Club 1:30 p.m. Children ages 5 to 12 will have fun getting together with others and sharing ideas, working together, and making new friends. LEGO bricks will be provided – bring your imagination. LEGO creations will be on display in the library until the next meeting date.
Monday
- Monday Night Movie at 5:00 p.m. During the Cold War, an American lawyer is recruited to defend an arrested Soviet spy in court, and then help the CIA facilitate an exchange of the spy for the Soviet captured American U2 spy plane pilot, Frances Gary Powers. (PG-13, 2hrs. 22min.) Contact the library for movie titles.
Tuesday
- Master Gardener Plant Clinic 10:00 a.m. – Noon. Stop in to get free answers to your Florida gardening and landscape questions. This is made possible through a partnership with UF/IFAS Extension Sarasota County. For more information, call 941-861-9807 or online at sarasota.ifas.ufl.edu/hort/plantclinic.shtml.
Wednesday
- Association for Research and Enlightenment Book Club (A.E.) meets at 6:00 p.m.
Thursday
- The Southwest Homeowners Alliance meets at 10:00 a.m.
- The Knitting Club meets to knit and chat at 1:00 p.m.
Friday
- Grupo de Estudio Espanol meets at 10:00 a.m.
- Suncoast Humane Society meets at 1:00 p.m.
For more information on library programs, services, and resources visit us at 100 West Dearborn Street, call the Sarasota County Contact Center at 941-861-5000, or visit our website at scgov.net.
