Nota, or the Danish Library and Expertise Center for people with print disabilities (), is a state-run library under the

Danish Ministry of Culture The Minister for Culture of Denmark ( da, Kulturminister) is the Danish political minister office responsible for culture, head of the Ministry of Culture of Denmark. The political responsibility for culture, as well as church and education, was ...

that produces

audiobooks An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sch ...

e-books An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Alt ...

and

Braille Braille (Pronounced: ) is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired, including people who are Blindness, blind, Deafblindness, deafblind or who have low vision. It can be read either on Paper embossing, embossed paper ...

books for people who cannot read ordinary printed text. The organization is headquartered in

Nakskov Nakskov is a town in south Denmark. It is situated in Lolland municipality in Region Sjælland on the western coast of the island of Lolland. The town has a population of 12,495 (1 January 2022). To the west is Nakskov Fjord, an inlet from the La ...

, Denmark.

History

The Danish Print Shop and Library for the Blind was founded in 1924 () as a department of the Danish Royal Institute for the Blind. The library was later to become part of the Ministry of Culture in 1985. Changes took place at that time, with trained librarians being hired. Over time, the organization's focus shifted from printing material for the blind and visually impaired to becoming a library. In 2009, the library changed its name from ('the Danish Library for the Blind') to Nota as it aims to provide resources not only for the blind and visually impaired, but also those with

reading disabilities A reading disability is a condition in which a person displays difficulty reading. Examples of reading disabilities include: developmental dyslexia, alexia (acquired dyslexia), and hyperlexia (word-reading ability well above normal for age and I ...

Online library

Nota's online library has over 50,000 e-books, audiobooks, and Braille books. Nota members can also play audiobooks directly from Nota's player on their computer, mobile phone, or tablet. Local newspapers and national newspapers are also available in an accessible format. Nota is a member of the DAISY Consortium, an organization which maintains the DAISY (Digital Accessible Information System) technical standard for accessible materials.

Nordic cooperation

Nota cooperates with similar agencies in the Nordic countries: the Norwegian Library of Talking Books and Braille; the

Swedish Agency for Accessible Media The Swedish Agency for Accessible Media (, MTM), formerly the Audiobook and Braille Library (, TPB), is a Swedish governmental administrative agency under the Ministry of Culture. The agency's task is to work in collaboration with other libraries ...

; the Finnish library for accessible text, ; and the Icelandic . An agreement was signed in 2009 which allows accessible literature to be shared between these countries. The agreement increases user access and also eliminates unnecessary duplication of work in creating accessible versions.

Registration and users

It is free to join Nota. To be registered, one must have a documented visual impairment or reading disability. Nota members' reading disabilities are typically

dyslexia Dyslexia, also known until the 1960s as word blindness, is a disorder characterized by reading below the expected level for one's age. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, r ...

and visual impairment, but there are also members with cognitive disabilities and physical disabilities. Nota's dyslexic users are typically enrolled by a reading tutor or reading consultant, while blind users are enrolled by vision consultants or

ophthalmologists Ophthalmology ( ) is a surgical subspecialty within medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders. An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Following a medic ...

. The third user group is people with other disabilities. Often they are registered by their general practitioner or a specialist. In addition, educators of Nota members – for example, primary school teachers – can access Nota materials in the context of teaching Nota members. Relatives, librarians or others who help Nota users to order and download books can join Nota as assistants and thus have access to order books on behalf of the member.

Studies on reading difficulties

In addition to being a library, Nota is also a knowledge centre. Nota produces various studies dealing with different topics related to reading difficulties. Nota also collaborates with other institutions, for example through the "Project School" () initiative, where Nota invites students from different universities to develop knowledge in collaboration with Nota.

References

External links

Nota's homepage

Nota's research
{{In lang, da Nakskov Libraries in Denmark Libraries for the blind Government agencies of Denmark