Talking Books Service

The Talking Books service at Clare County Library brings the joy of books to people experiencing difficulties with their sight and helps them to rediscover, or continue to enjoy, reading. This service to the visually impaired is administered for the entire county from the branch library in Kilrush. It is a service of which the library is extremely proud, as it allows us to reach out to people and attempt to improve their quality of life. A wide variety of reading interests is catered for, from Detective, Romance and Thriller titles, to biography, history and travel. A list of all titles available in this format is available on the library website (see Talking Books in the Special Services section). There is no fee to register for this service, and each borrower is entitled to 4 books/tapes for an unlimited period of time. An Post allows for free postage of all items under this scheme. For further information contact Kilrush library at 065 9051504 or email mailbox@clarelibrary.ie
The story of Talking Books or Audio Books is an interesting one, dating back to the the First World War. Many soldiers, blinded in action, found braille too difficult to learn. In 1920 the Royal National Institute for the Blind in the UK began testing different formats and methods of producing books that could ‘talk’. By 1926 they were testing the possibility of using long-playing records which would be played on gramophones. In 1935 RNIB sent out the first Talking Books to blind and partially sighted people including ‘The Murder of Roger Ackroyd’ by Agatha Christie and ‘Typhoon’ by Joseph Conrad. The books were recorded on 12 inch discs and were recorded at 24 revolutions per minute instead of 78. Each side lasted 25 minutes so that a typical book would fit onto ten double-sided records. Talking Books received an enthusiastic reaction from blind and partially sighted people. One blinded ex-soldier commented in the Times: “The person who thought of the Talking Book ought to have a monument three times the size of Nelson's.“ Following the Second World War researchers continued to look at new ways of improving the service. In 1949 magnetic tape began to look like a viable alternative to replace gramophone records and the new Talking Book player which played ‘tape’ was introduced for the first time. The cassette was so big and heavy the postman had to deliver it separately to the normal mail. To return it to the library the member had to take it back to the Post Office rather than post it in the post box! Recording later switched to ¼" tape at a new Talking Book Studios where Engineers recorded two books simultaneously, using professional narrators. By 2002 Talking Books were recorded digitally. Today they are issued on long-playing CDs which can hold more material than standard CDs – a vast improvement from the early days of Talking Books. Clare County Library will continue to monitor developments in this area in an effort to make books and reading accessible to all.