Vision Program

E-texts refers to electronic text documents that are read with a computer. Many e-texts can be downloaded or saved from a website so that they can be read at your leisure. For information on downloading and saving e-text, click here. For information on uploading e-text to your Braille and Speak, click here.

For Visually Impaired Only

National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS)
This site requires a user id and password to access the documents. To obtain an id and password, contact the NLS branch in Baltimore at 1-800-964-9209.
The files located here are in a ascii braille format. That means they can only be read using a braille interface. You can use a braille translator such as Duxbury to translate into text files. Or you can upload them to a portable notetaking device such as the Braille and Speak. Or you can print the files to an braille embosser.
These files are currently copyrighted texts which are produced by NLS for use only by visually impaired people. Copyright laws will not currently permit the texts to be provided in other file formats. No textbooks available.

Magazines
This site is also operated by NLS. The restrictions described above also apply to accessing these materials.

Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic Catalog
Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic produce some current copyrighted texts as e-text books. Their catalog of e-texts is limited however. You cannot search to find only e-text books. You must search for a book by author, title, or isbn number and you will be told if that book is available and if so, in what format. To access these books, you must be a member of RFBD and pay a small fee for the book, then they will send you diskettes which contain the book in text format. Textbooks are available.

TSBVI Braille Book Files
This site contains braille formatted files that are currently copyrighted materials. The user must have a password to access the files. The site contains a link to fill out a form to obtain a password. Most of the files are fiction for elementary aged students. No textbooks available.

Bookshare
Users need to register and pay a few to become a member. Volunteers and members upload and share texts that have been produced with scanning software. Users need to provide proof of impairment. See the site for more information. This site contains braille formatted files and Daisy formatted files that are currently copyrighted materials. No textbooks available.

For Public Use: Public domain

The On-Line Books page
This is my favorite site for public domain documents. One can search by title, author, or subjects or you can browse alphabetically. Searching is recommended when you know the title or author you are seeking. Currently available formats include html, text files, and zipped pfd files. Text files are recommended for visually impaired users.
This site does not have all of the documents on its site. If tells you what is available and provides a link to the location page.

Project Gutenberg
This is the original project which began the movement to have e-text available on the internet.

The WWW Virtual Library: Library Resources
This web site lists about 350 sites to browse for e-text. Many of the sites have texts that are highly academic. Shows sets of 30 links per web page. Click on the next link to read the next 30 links.

Fairy Tales
This fairy tale site has several links to fairy tale e-text sites, including Grimms tales, Hans Christian Andersen, and Aesop's Fables.

The Real Mother Goose
This site contains both html-formatted and text-formatted mother goose rhymes. It's a great site for children just learning to read.