Skip to main content

Become a Patron: Services

Become a Patron

Summary of Services and Statistics

Program Summary

Nevada Talking Book Services (NTBS) is part of the Library of Congress' National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS) network of libraries providing services to blind, visually or print disabled individuals.

Books are available on digital cartridges and through Braille and Audio Reading Download (BARD). Magazines are available in digital format or through BARD; some materials are available in Braille.

Recorded books and magazines and special playback equipment are loaned to eligible readers free of charge.

All reading materials are sent to and returned by readers through postage-free mail.

Statistics

Our digital collection of talking books includes over 25,000 titles and almost 50,000 items. In FY 2017, over 113,000 items circulated to eligible Nevadans.

Additional titles are available through interlibrary loan from the NLS network of libraries.

Apply

Eligibility Criteria

Anyone who is a resident of the U.S. or it territories temporarily or permanently unable to see or hold print material is eligible for library services for the blind.

  • Eligibility includes certification as legally blind, visually, or physically impaired.

  • The application must be complete

  • The application must be signed by a competent authority trained in the evaluation of visual or physical handicaps such as a doctor of medicine, optometrist, physical therapist, etc.

Definition of Legally Blind:

  • Blind persons whose visual acuity as determined by a competent authority is 20/200 or less in the better eye with correcting lenses or whose widest diameter of visual field subtends an angular distance no greater than 20 degrees.

Definition of Visually or Physically Disabled Persons:

  • Persons whose visual disability with correction and regardless of optical measurement, is certified by a competent authority as preventing the reading of standard printed material

  • Persons certified by a competent authority as unable to read or unable to use standard printed material as a result of physical limitations

  • Persons certified by a competent authority as having a reading disability resulting from organic dysfunction and of sufficient severity to prevent their reading of printed material in a normal manner.

If you have one of the qualifications above, you can ask us to mail you an application, or you can download the application found on this page.

We can now accept faxed, emailed, or photocopied signatures.

Questions: Contact us at 775-684-3354

Patron Application

Patron application PDF    Patron Application Doc    Patron application Spanish PDF

                                                        Spanish

Institution Application

Institution Application PDF

Supplemental School Application

School Supplemental app

How it Works

Reader Profile

The goal of the program is to provide you with books that you will enjoy reading. One of the first things we do with all new patrons is to establish a unique patron profile. We use the information gathered directly from you and from your application to prepare guidelines for our computer to send you books that fit your interests and reading needs.

Request List Only

You may choose books yourself by requesting specific book numbers from the catalogs. Then mail, fax, email, or phone in your order. You can call to request specific book titles and authors even if you do not see them in our catalogs. You can also enter them directly into your request file using our online public access catalog (OPAC) at https://webopac.klas.com/nv1aopac/index.jsf

Automatic Book Select

Because all our patron records and book files are stored on computer, it is possible for our database software to choose books for you based on your favorite authors and genres. We call this option Auto-Select. For example, if you want mysteries but have told us you do not want books by the author Robert Parker or the books that contain any sex, strong language or violence, the computer will scan the catalog for mystery titles that match these criteria. It will then search your reading history and disregard any that you have already borrowed from us. The computer will then choose the first available title to be sent to you. Auto-Select is an easy way for you to browse the collection and sample titles and authors that you might not otherwise know about.  You can order specific titles, have favorite authors and still be on Auto-Select service.

Turnaround Service

Generally, when you return a book to us, it is checked in the day of receipt and another will be sent out the next business day. We recommend that you return a book as soon as you have finished reading it so that there is no interruption in service.

Telephone Numbers

You may call the Library toll-free from anywhere in Nevada by dialing 1-800-922-9334. Carson/Reno area residents can call (775) 684-3354. Our office is open 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. Voice mail is available 24 hours a day; calls during business hours will occasionally roll to voice mail when all of our lines are in use, but we will call you back as soon as possible.

Free Matter

All books and equipment from this service travel by mail postage-free marked “Free Matter for the Blind and Physically Handicapped”. Your welcome letter, catalogs, talking books, and equipment will arrive at different times. Because all materials are mailed postage-free, we cannot guarantee when your materials will arrive. Please be patient.

Each container has a slot with a mailing label card. Your address is on one side. When you have finished with the book, remove the card from the slot and turn it over so the library's address appears (there is a clipped corner in the upper right-hand side of the mail card). Then replace the card in the slot and drop the book into any postal drop box or take it to your local post office.

Your postal carrier is under no obligation to pick up our books from you or out of your mail box to return to us though you may be able to make special arrangements with your carrier to do so.

Tagging Defective Books

If one of the books is not playing properly for any reason, please place a rubber band around the book cartridge. If you would like the book again to finish reading it, please call us. If we do not hear from you, we will not send that book back to you after it is repaired.
https://nsla.nv.gov/become-a-patron
nsla.nv.gov
crawl=CC-MAIN-2020-40
73393
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:2LUAP52FK6T52YWHPNZOZHOYWDG7EEAO
<urn:uuid:82f989d2-d2d8-4bcf-8593-f109813eb714>
2020-09-25T16:42:45Z
34.194.39.199
text/html
sha1:DMOAZN2OPHK5FNO6SCIWV4HMHSQZVKLW
<urn:uuid:81ccc089-d5f1-411a-b792-577a4ec6f8f7>
https://nsla.nv.gov/become-a-patron
response
<urn:uuid:34729be9-c7c6-4611-a7c4-230828826b11>
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2020-40
publisher: Common Crawl
description: Wide crawl of the web for September 2020
operator: Common Crawl Admin (info@commoncrawl.org)
hostname: ip-10-67-67-249.ec2.internal
software: Apache Nutch 1.17 (modified, https://github.com/commoncrawl/nutch/)
robots: checked via crawler-commons 1.2-SNAPSHOT (https://github.com/crawler-commons/crawler-commons)
format: WARC File Format 1.1
conformsTo: http://iipc.github.io/warc-specifications/specifications/warc-format/warc-1.1/