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BARD (Braille and Audio Reading Download)

Digital audio books and magazines are available for download from the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped.

Applicants must be registered and in active status with the Arizona Braille and Talking Book Library. Patrons should ensure their name and address are updated with the library before applying. New patrons should wait two weeks before applying for BARD because new patron information and changes are submitted to the NLS database (CMLS) only once a week.

To apply go to https://nlsbard.loc.gov/az. This is the same site you will go to for downloading books once you have been approved to use the service.

The NLS player already has the electronic key to open the digital books. To use downloaded materials on an NLS player the patron must unzip the files and transfer them to either an NLS type cartridge they have purchased or to a standard flash drive (thumb drive). It’s recommended you use a flash drive no larger than 4 GB. Some will work with the NLS player and some won’t. The flash drive should not have any other files or any U3 software on it. For more information go to BARD Download Instructions. The NLS website has answers to Frequently Asked Questions.

NLS Digital Talking Book Player (DBM)
Other Library Provided Player
APH Braille Plus Mobile Manager
HIMS BookSense and BookSense XT
Humanware Victor Reader Stream
LevelStar ICON
Plextalk Pocket PTP1 and Plextalk PTN2
Book Port Plus
Milestone 212 and Milestone 213

Once a patron using a purchased player is approved for BARD the producer of that player will be notified. The producer will contact the user by email and request the player’s serial number. Then the producer will provide the electronic key that has to be loaded into the player so that it can open the digital book once it’s downloaded and transferred to the device.

BARD DOWNLOAD INSTRUCTIONS    Back

Disclaimer: These instructions for downloading a book from BARD have been tested with Windows XP and should also work with Windows Vista. However, computers and operating systems vary widely. If you have any questions or encounter difficulties with downloading, unzipping (extracting), or transferring files contact the Arizona Braille and Talking Book Library at 602-255-5578.

Section 1 — Downloading a book

1. Log into the web site https://nlsbard.loc.gov/az by entering your NLS username and password.

2. After login, you will be on the BARD main page. You can search the most recently added books, the most popular books, or by title, author, subject, or keyword. You can search for magazines by title or by recently added issues. Each different section or search choice is marked with heading markers for screen readers. The main page also has a section called Additional Links to update your account information or get help.

3. Click on a search preference or enter a search term and click GO. A list of books will appear with individual books separated by heading markers, making it easy to jump from one book to the next with the heading shortcut keys of your screen reader.

4. Once you arrive at your chosen book simply click or press ENTER on its blue download link.

5. A window will open asking if you want to OPEN or SAVE the book. Select SAVE and click OK.

6. A window will open in which you must specify where you want to save the downloaded book. By default the file name will include the author, title, and book number. Choose a desired location on your computer where you want to save the book. You can create a folder on your computer specifically for saving the Bard books. Once you have made your selection, click SAVE.

7. A download window will then open showing the progress of the download. Depending on the length of the book and your internet provider, this could take between 30 seconds and 10 minutes or more.

8. Once the download is complete, you may close or minimize your internet application.

Section 2 — Unzipping (or extracting) the file

1. The book download is a single ZIP (or compressed) file containing several necessary files for the book. You must first unzip (or extract) the book files to a folder on your computer or it will not play on your player. You should not need to install special software to unzip—both Windows XP and Vista come with software to do this. This process differs from computer to computer, so you may find these directions do not correspond to your system. Call us if you have problems, and we will try our best to help.

2. Go to where you have saved the downloaded book and double-click on the book file. This may automatically open a window, or wizard. If not, right-click on the file and select the option to Extract All Files. If the unzipped files automatically appear, skip to Section 3 to save them to your flash drive.

3. The wizard will take you through the unzip or extract process. Select Unzip Or Install From… or Extract All Files and follow the wizard’s directions. When the process is complete a window should appear containing all the unzipped files.

4. With some systems you may need to select the option to create a new folder. You will need to name it, then move or copy and paste all the unzipped files into the new folder.

5. With other systems an unzipped folder with the book author, title, and number will automatically have been created in your default unzipped file location. This may be on your computer’s hard drive (or C drive) in a folder called Unzipped, it may be in the same folder you save the original downloaded book to, or it may be in another location, depending on your settings. (Call us to learn how to change the default location.)

Section 3 — Saving the unzipped (or extracted) book file to your flash drive

1. Make sure a flash drive or blank NLS cartridge is plugged into a USB port on your computer. The flash drive can only have BARD books on it. Any other files must be deleted or they will prevent BARD books from playing.

2. Locate the folder with the unzipped book files. NOTE--Be sure you select the unzipped (or extracted) folder, not the compressed zip file.

3. Highlight the folder by clicking on it. Press Control+C to copy that folder containing your book files to the Windows clipboard (or right-click on the folder and select COPY).

4. Go to My Computer and double-click on the icon for your cartridge or flash drive. It will likely be called Removable Disk and be found in drive (E:).

5. If your book files were automatically unzipped in step 2 of the Unzip section you may have to create a folder for the book on your flash drive. If so, select Make A New Folder, and name it with the book title or number. You will need to paste the unzipped files into this folder.

6. Paste the copied file to the drive by pressing Control+V, or right-click and select Paste.

7. Close all open windows. Remove the flash drive or cartridge following your computer’s recommended practice for removing USB media, and insert it in to the player.

8. If you have more then one book on the drive, press and hold the Play/Stop button for 5 seconds to access the bookshelf. You will hear a beep and a voice announce “Bookshelf” and the number of books on the flash drive. Use the RW and FW keys to locate the book you want to read. Push the Play/Stop key again to begin playing the book.