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Who can borrow your books and resources for blind and visually impaired children?
Our free postal library is available to all blind and visually impaired children in the UK. Under 18’s need an adult to join them on their behalf. This could be:
- Organisations such as schools, health authorities and care homes
- Individuals such as teachers, carers and support workers
- Parents, family members or legal guardians
- Groups such as societies and book clubs
Children and teenagers will need an adult to join the library on their behalf.
Can blind and visually impaired adults join the Living Paintings library?
Yes! Although we currently focus on children and young people – we have tactile-audio experiences for all age groups and adults are still welcome to join our service. Browse our collection of tactile-audio resources for adults.
Is there a charge to use the library for blind children?
Our service is 100% free to join and use. All books are dispatched ‘Articles for the Blind’ through Royal Mail. An ‘Articles for the Blind’ label is also enclosed for free return. There are no overdue charges.
Although the library is completely free we do appreciate any contributions to support our service. You can donate online or by telephone 01635 299771.
How do I join the Living Paintings library?
You can join the Living Paintings library by filling in our joining form or, if you prefer, calling us on 01635 299771.
How do I borrow books and resources from the library?
Once you have joined our library for blind and visually impaired children, you can order books for free online! Simply log-in to your Living Paintings account and then you can browse our collection and order your chosen titles. You can also contact our friendly library team on library@livingpaintings.org or call 01635 299771 and they’ll be happy to help.
Many of our library members choose to be on a continuing loan. This is where you let our library team choose books for you, based on what we think the children or young people in your care might enjoy. With this option, once you send books back to us we’ll automatically send you a new box of accessible books to enjoy. You can choose this option when joining.
What if I have forgotten my login details?
If you have forgotten your password, you can reset this in the login page.
If you have forgotten your username, please drop us an email on library@livingpaintings.org or call 01635 299771 and our library team will be able to assist you.
Your user name is likely your library number (if you have been a Living Paintings member for quite some time!) or the username you chose when you signed up to our service.
How long can I keep the books and resources for?
The standard loan period is eight weeks for children and young people and three months for blind and visually impaired adults who use the service.
There are no late fees and you can renew your loan via your account, however we do encourage you to send the books back as soon as they can so they can be enjoyed by other members!
How do I return the books?
Returning the books is easy!
Within your orange box, we supply an ‘Articles for the Blind’ label with the Living Paintings address. Simply attach this label to the box and take it to your local Post Office. There will be no charge as this is a free service.
If you are unable to get to a Post Office, you can arrange for the Royal Mail to pick up your loans. If you drop them a call on 0345 607 6140 and let them know you would like an ‘Articles for the Blind’ delivery picking up, they can arrange that with you.
Please ensure all books, USBs, CDs, and guidance notes are within the box before sending.
We also politely request that you do not use tape on your boxes. We re-use our delivery boxes to save on costs and protect the environment, and the tape causes damage that means we cannot use them again. The Royal Mail also request this so they can ensure the contents of the box meet the requirements for the ‘Articles for the Blind’ service.
What do your books and resources for blind and visually impaired children contain?
Our accessible Touch to See picture books are the original published book, kindly donated by the publisher, comb bound with braille on clear plastic sheets. Some of the key illustrations have been adapted into tactile, raised versions that can be explored through touch.
Our tactile boxsets come with a host of individual raised images alongside guidance notes and a colour photograph booklet.
Everything in our library comes with an engaging audio guide. These are designed to guide fingers over the raised images to help the reader build a picture in their minds eye and ‘see’ through touch. Once a loan is booked out, these are available to stream in your account – and we can also supply these on a USB or CD in your delivery.
The details of what is contained in each individual picture book and boxset can be found on the items listing. Browse our books and resources to find out more!
How do access the audio guide?
Our audio guides bring our tactile pictures to life!
All of our audio guides for blind and visually impaired children and young people are available to stream online. Simply login to your account and go to ‘My Books’ and your guide will be available to stream alongside the loan information.
We also offer our audio guides on USB and CD. You can choose how you would like to receive your audio guides when you order books.
Can I buy your accessible books and resources for blind and visually impaired children?
Our books and resources are not for sale and can only be borrowed for free from our postal library service within the UK. Our books are handmade and are expensive to produce. With only a limited number of each title produced, they need to be returned so they can be enjoyed by other members.
If the child or young person in your care has a favourite book, you are able to book it out more than once!
Join our free library for blind children and young people to discover our world of free books and resources.
Is Living Paintings environmentally friendly?
Our books and resources for blind and visually impaired children are multi-use – they are borrowed and enjoyed over and again by our library members.
All of our books are cleaned, repaired and refreshed regularly to extend their longevity.
Our packaging is reusable and recyclable. This is why we ask members not to use tape when returning their loans as we like to reuse the boxes to help the environment and save on our costs.
Do you do large print books?
We do not change the font size in our books. All of our books are the original from the publisher that we adapt with braille and tactile illustrations.
If you’d like large print books, we recommend CustomEyes from the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association or the RNIB Shop.
I received an overdue notification for a book I have already returned – how can I stop this?
Please drop our library team an email at library@livingpaintings.org or give them a call on 01635 299 771.
Sadly, our books sometimes go missing in the post – so we may not have received your loan back. If you contact us, we can put this right in your account so you stop receiving notifications.
You can be assured that we have no overdue fees and do not charge for books that go missing.
I’m a teacher leaving the school I work at. What should I do about my library membership with you?
If you’re a teacher using our books and resources for blind or visually impaired students, please let us know when you are leaving so we can update our records and arrange a return of the books and resources currently on loan.
If the child or children are staying at the school too, it would be fabulous to be able to transfer membership to whoever is taking over from you or to another member of staff at the school so they can continue to enjoy our books and resources.
I work for an organisation that works with blind and visually impaired people. I would love to borrow some resources to demonstrate what you offer – is this possible?
Absolutely! Please get in touch via email at library@livingpaintings.org or drop us a call on 01635 299771 and we can send you out some information about our service, as well as a couple of books and resources to demonstrate what we do.