German Libraries: A Portrait - Saxony

An estimated 145,000 blind people and 500,000 visually impaired people live in Germany. A library in Leipzig ensures that they, too, have access to the information society.

To read, you have to be able to see, one might think. "Libraries for the blind" may sound odd to sighted people at first. It is true that the special libraries for the blind and visually impaired in Germany do differ considerably from ordinary libraries, especially if, like the German Central Library for the Blind, they also have a publishing house complete with print-shop and book-binding facilities, as well as modern recording studios.

Thus, the German Central Library for the Blind in Leipzig is not at all only a library in the traditional sense of being a place where books may be borrowed. It also produces books and audio-books, with literature of all kinds being transcribed into Braille or recorded on CD-ROM.

More than 100 years of service

The Central Library in Leipzig was founded in 1894, making it the oldest public lending library for the blind in Germany. The aim of the library has changed little since it was founded. The objective is still to provide blind and visually impaired people with high-quality educational material, information and entertainment.

There is no large reading room here. The media can be ordered by telephone, fax or e-mail and are sent out to users by post free of charge. The Leipzig library, with its 80 staff, provides a service for blind and visually impaired people, not only in the Federal Republic of Germany, but also abroad. The number of loans has more than doubled since 1991, to a current annual total of more than 150,000.

Growing range of media on offer

Nearly 16,500 book and magazine titles are currently available from the German Central Library in Braille. This system of printing for the blind is named after the Frenchman Louis Braille who developed it some 180 years ago. As well as 1,000 different children’s book titles, the library also has raised, three-dimensional tactile maps, and 8,000 books on tape and 3,500 on CD-ROM. Classics and modern works of world literature are to be found here, alongside specialist literature, travelogues and reference works. The latest best-sellers – such as the Harry Potter books – are continually out on loan. The German Library for the Blind also publishes a total of 17 different magazines for the blind and visually-impaired, the vast majority of which it even edits itself.

While it is a matter of course for the German Central Library to aim to be up to date, this always involves a great deal of effort. The transcription of long books into Braille requires a great deal of time and space. These books are about three times as thick as the so-called "black-print" versions, as the established print is called here. Audiobooks are also very important, partly because most sight impairments occur in old age and those affected often no longer learn Braille, which is quite difficult.

Access to modern information technology

The library has been directed by Dr Thomas Kahlisch since 1999. He is himself blind and has a diploma in information technology. The institution is successfully keeping abreast with the latest developments in information technology. The Leipzig online support and information service for the visually impaired, for example, recommends websites and software for the blind.

The German Central Library for the Blind has produced talking books in its own recording studios for 50 years. The use of digital technology represents a big step forward in the production of audiobooks. DAISY (Digital Accessible Information System) are used in Leipzig to produce a new generation of digital talking books for the blind, which offer more comfort in comparison to the audio tapes. Up to 70 hours of audio information fit onto just one CD-ROM and the information is structured in such a way that blind or visually-impaired users can leaf and browse through the audiobooks to their hearts’ content using special playback equipment.

DaCapo for Braille sheet music

Leipzig also has a tradition of producing sheet music in Braille. The library’s 5,300 music titles are loaned to blind musicians world-wide. However, this collection is extremely small in comparison with what is available to the sighted, and includes hardly any modern works. Braille sheet music has not been produced in Germany since 1995.

The "DaCapo" project, funded by the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Security, has been set up to revive the production of sheet music for the blind in Leipzig, with a view to improving the careers opportunities of blind musicians. The German Central Library is developing processes for the computer-assisted production of sheet music in Braille and plans to set up a high-performance transmission service. In this connection, the library offers its users the "BrailleVis" service. The library’s staff convert Braille sheet music on computer file into printed sheet music free of charge within a week – with sound data upon request.

You do not need to be able to see to read at the German Central Library for the Blind in Leipzig, but you do need to feel and listen.