RALEIGH, N.C. — More than 300,000 people in North Carolina are blind or visually impaired, according to state leaders. January is Braille Literacy Month, helping bring awareness to the tactile code. 

The State Library of North Carolina Accessible Books and Library Services helps those who are visually impaired or blind, providing books, magazines and more for North Carolina residents who cannot use regular printed material. 

Joshua Berkov, the assistant director at the library, says they have access to around 30,000 Braille titles, 21,000 volumes of large print books, over 150,000 audio titles and about 850 DVD’s for patrons across the state. 

Tawanda Walters being escorted by Joshua Berkov, through the books at the State Library of North Carolina Accessible Books and Library Services. (Spectrum News 1/Sydney McCoy)

The State Library of North Carolina Accessible Books and Library Services is different than a traditional library, shipping titles out to the patrons. With so much mail being sent from the library, the back door loading dock even has its own zip code. 

“We have our own box truck that we use to transport mail to and from. And the post office every day,” Berkov said. 

Tawanda Walters is a patron support assistant at the library, communicating with users of the library services and making sure they have the best and easiest access to their titles. 

“They have the comfort of knowing that they don't have to worry about how they are going to get to the library to get them,” Walters said.

Walters struggled with her eye health and sight, eventually losing her vision in the middle of class during her freshman year of college. 

“You're sitting there looking at everybody in a classroom, looking at the teacher, and the teacher tells you all to turn to a page in a book and you do that, and you look down a little back up and everything is gone. It brings a whole new perspective to not taking your eyesight for granted,” Walters said. 

While Walters says she enjoys mainly listening to audio books, which can be accessed through their Braille and Audio Reading Download, or BARD, other forms of Braille, including Twin Vision Books that have both pictures and Braille, let her read with her grandchildren. 

“It gives a parent comfort to know that they can read their child a bedtime story,” Walters said. 

A branch of the Library of Congress, the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, provided the state with a few hundred Braille e-readers. Using the e-readers, books can be downloaded onto a cartridge and plugged into the device, with the Braille cells changing to provide new sentences for the reader.

“It’s easier for Braille readers to hold and maintain a lot of books, without trying to figure out what part of the house they're going to have to rearrange to make a library out of,” Walters said. 

For example, a Braille Bible takes up 40 volumes and weighs about 90 pounds, according to the Museum of the Bible. 

Braille is also very pricey, with the National Library Service selecting about 500 books to be transcribed into braille each year, ranging from around $500 to $1,500 based on the book. If the State Library of North Carolina Accessible Books and Library Services would like a different book to be transcribed and embossed in Braille, they often outsource, raise money, use volunteers or utilize their paid partnership with the Department for Adult Corrections inside Scotland Correctional Facility in Laurinburg. 

April and Spencer Houck volunteer at the library, reviewing invites in print and Braille. (Spectrum News 1/Sydney McCoy)

The library also holds events, including the Eastern North Carolina Braille Challenge for children in grades 1 through 12 to be tested on their speed and accuracy of listening to audio and dictating it to Braille and more. 

Patron Spencer Houck, who was born blind, helped proofread the Braille invites for the event and has participated in years past. 

“I was excited to have the opportunity to meet new people and also to utilize my Braille skills,” Spencer Houck said.

Spencer and his mom April often volunteer at the library, helping bridge the gap between those who are sighted and those who are impaired. 

“Sometimes we don't think about the things that people that are visually impaired, miss information that we take for granted sometimes,” April Houck said. 

The Eastern North Carolina Braille Challenge will take place Feb. 17 at the Governor Morehead School for the Blind. The National Challenge takes place in California.