About Louis
The American Printing House for the Blind (APH) maintains and promotes the Louis Database of Accessible Materials, named in honor of Louis Braille. Louis contains information on accessible materials produced by over 60 organizations throughout the United States. These materials include educational materials in braille, large print, audio, and electronic file format.
Our aim is to provide maximum visibility to accessible educational materials and to meet that goal, the Louis search also includes information from the national repositories of the NIMAC, Bookshare, and Learning Ally.
Accessible Media Producers
The Accessible Media Producers Database AMP is a self-listing directory of producers of accessible formats such as braille, tactile graphics, large print, e-files and audio. The listings within this database provide the producers’ contact information and expertise so the public knows about their services or businesses. Visit the About Accessible Media Producers page to find search tips, FAQs, and further information about listing on the AMP database.
Textbooks and Recreational Reading
In addition to accessible educational materials (AEM), Louis also provides listings of recreational reading titles in accessible formats. You will be able to search by keyword, find titles by series, and to browse these titles with subject headings specific to the Louis database, as well as using the built-in Louis search filters.
APH Library
The APH Library supports research and product development initiatives at APH, while the M.C. Migel Memorial Collection, which is a part of the APH Library, is one of the largest collections of nonmedical information related to blindness in the world. Although the collections only circulate internally, arrangements can be made to use the materials on-site. In addition, APH has digitized thousands of items in the libraries and is making this growing number of digitized, full-text materials available through Internet Archive and Open Library.
NIMAC, Bookshare, Learning Ally
NIMAC is a federally funded, online file repository of K-12 instructional materials source files in the NIMAS source file format. Authorized users can access NIMAS files for use in the production of accessible formats for students with disabilities.
Bookshare® has the world’s largest collection of ebooks for people with reading barriers, and provides memberships to students, educators, and adults to find any book they need for school, work, or the joy of reading.
Learning Ally is a leading nonprofit education solutions organization that transforms the lives of early and struggling learners through proven solutions from Pre-K through high school, to help students reach their potential.
APH READS Team
Trustees, teachers, and students have access to accessible educational materials (AEM) via the Louis, File Repository, AMP and Migel Library databases. Are you having trouble finding a specific resource? Not sure where else to look? READS (Research, Evaluation, and Digital Information Services) staff have many ways to assist you in finding what you need, please visit the Ask a Librarian page to learn more.