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The American Printing House for the Blind (APH) maintains and promotes the Louis Database of Accessible Materials for People who are Blind or Visually Impaired. Louis contains information on nearly 200,000 titles in accessible formats including braille, large print, sound recording, and electronic files. Information is contributed by over 180 agencies throughout the United States.
Louis is available free on the Web. Just go to the APH web site at www.aph.org and follow the links for Louis. Once you have arrived at your chosen search screen, you can click on the link for Search Hints for additional help.
If you have problems or questions, APH Resource Services is happy to walk you through the search process and answer questions:
Resource Services:
Phone: 800-223-1839, ext. 705
E-mail: resource@aph.org
Fax: 502-899-2363
There are very few requirements for agencies or individuals who want to add their titles to the Louis Database:
The Louis forms can also be requested from APH for those who do not have Internet access. Just contact Resource Services at (502) 899-2705.
Please submit an Intention form each time you begin a new braille transcription or sound recording project.
Please do not submit Intention forms for large print items. Only Completions are entered in the database for large print.
If your titles are already listed with the Library of Congress National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS), please do not submit titles to be listed on Louis.
If an agency lists over 500 titles on the database, APH requests that the agency contribute $500.00 per year to help support Louis, if possible. An invoice is mailed to those agencies each January. This amount allows us to meet our goal of keeping access to Louis free to all users.
Louis also contains over 4,500 downloadable electronic files which are available for use in braille production. A repository account must be set up in order to download files. Because of publisher agreements and copyright restrictions, repository acounts are available only to Ex Officio Trustees of APH and "authorized entities" as defined by the 1996 Chafee Amendment to the Copyright Law. Files are either braille files created by APH or other agencies, or publisher files (usually ASCII format). A nominal fee of $25 is charged per download. For additional information about the repository, see About the APH File Repository.
To do a search only for downloadable files in Louis, do your search as normal but limit your search by selecting "Downloadable Repository Files" in the "medium" box. Please contact your Ex Officio Trustee for download requests. All other questions can be answered by contacting APH Resource Services, resource@aph.org or by phone at 1-800-223-1839, ext. 705.
APH is currently sponsoring a training program. The program has been designed to help users learn, practice, and thoroughly test the different search options of the database.
The goal of the training is to help users learn to retrieve information that is useful and relevant to work, study, and personal interests. The type of searches and the time allowed for hands-on training will depend on the interests of the group, as well as the level of computer proficiency. The training is provided anywhere in the continental U.S., and can accommodate different age groups.
For more information about the program, please contact:
Maria E. Delgado
Louis Database Field Representative
Phone: (502) 899- 2340
E-mail: mdelgado@aph.org
We hope this answers your questions! Please feel free to call or e-mail if we can be of further assistance.
©2003, American Printing House for the Blind, Inc.