BARD DIRECTIONS

Section 1 — Downloading a book

1. Log into the web site https://nlsbard.loc.gov 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.