Promoting the Talking Book Service (TBS)

The Idaho Talking Book Service (TBS) is an audiobook library service that is convenient and available at no cost to any Idaho resident who is blind, has a perceptual or reading disability, or is unable to read standard print due to a visual impairment or physical disability.

For more on the service, including eligibility, visit: https://libraries.idaho.gov/tbs/.

The service is completely free for users, who receive titles by downloading them and/or having the materials (on cartridges) mailed directly to and from their residence. The materials are classified as “free matter for the blind” and mailed by the USPS at no charge. Once a patron has finished an audiobook (or books), they simply turn the mailing card over and put the case that contains the cartridge in their outgoing mail.

The Idaho TBS brings more than 100,000 titles of audio books and magazines to approximately 3,000 Idahoans who are unable to read standard print due to a visual or other physical disability. TBS users have a wide variety of genres from which to choose their next great read, along with a selection of locally recorded books and magazines about Idaho and the Northwest.

The Idaho Commission for Libraries (ICfL), home of the Idaho TBS, strives to reach the estimated 40,000 Idahoans who are eligible to use the Talking Book Service but who do not currently do so. To that end, the ICfL encourages the staff of Idaho’s libraries to spread the word about the TBS. Here are a variety of materials to make that communication even easier.