AZ ORSZÁGOS SZÉCHÉNYI KÖNYVTÁR ÉVKÖNYVE 1959. Budapest (1961)

IV. Könyvtár- és művelődéstörténeti tanulmányok - Summaires

The blind and the book On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Louis Braille. I. NAGYDIÓS1 Libraries for the blind present numerous problems, it is, therefore, necessary to investigate the origin, development and present status of this special type of library. Attention must also be given to initiatives which are aimed at a revolutionary change in the relations of the blind to the book. This paper, occasioned by the 150th anniversary of the birth of Louis Braille, the founder of the system of reading and writing for the blind, is discussing the questions mentioned above. The Braille system opened up extraordinary vistas in the field of educating the blind. The adaptability of the system to the peculiarities of the languages of the different nations, its development and technique made possible the spreading of the Braille book and brought new-type libraries into existence. Books for the blind have numerous distinguishing features: they are larger than ordinary books, they are expensive to produce and all visual effects, such as illustrations, colours, etc., must be avoided. These factors determine selection, acquisition and the lending policies in the libraries for the blind. Experiences in this field abroad have been studied and all circumstances carefully considered that help promote understanding the special status of these libraries. A central lending library for the blind has been in existence in Hungary for the last sixty years; it is subsidized by the state and functions independently, as part of the Association for the Blind. Another significant library for the blind is maintained by the National Pedagogical Institute for Blind People and five regional libraries in the country, with a total stock of approximately 2,000 volumes, are also operated. The central lending library's 2-floor book-stack holds about 1,000 works (6,000 volumes). About 1,400 volumes are used monthly by approximately 600 to 700 visitors. An international loan service is also operated. The greatest part of the book material consists of belles-lettres, but natural and social sciences, as well as political works are also represented to a fair extent in the collection. The so-called „talking books" deserve attention; gramophone records or tapes are used to transcribe the texts. There are no significant developments in our country in this field at present, it is hoped, however, that on basis of experiences abroad some headway will be made soon. Mention should be made, in this connexion, of modern experiments made lately: persons whose sight has been reduced almost to blindness are helped to read by certain visual impulses aroused in them or normal written texts are made accessible to them by the sense of touch by means of special reading devices. All these experiments will find their final form in the "talking machine", and it can be established that also in our country considerable progress has already been made in the realization of this project. 400