TIFLOLIBROS 
Libros
electrónicos para ciegos
Primera Biblioteca Digital para Ciegos de Habla Hispana
First
digital library for the Spanish-speaking blind
What
is Tiflolibros? How does
Tiflolibros work?
What´s the benefit
and potential of Tiflolibros? Why
is reading so important for a blind person? Who runs Tiflolibros?
How
do I register or help someone register? Is
there any cost to use the library?
Additional
information
We
are the winners to the APC Betinho Communications Prize 2003!
You can cooperate with the mantain of our library through a donation on line with Credit Cards
Tiflolibros is the first digital library for the Spanish-speaking blind. Created in 1999 by a group of blind friends that wanted to exchange their digital books in order to widen their access to culture and education, Tiflolibros has grown to have more than 20.000 books in Spanish available for more than 3.000 members with blindness or other severe disabilities in America, Europe and Asia.
Tiflolibros offers an online catalog with more than 20.000 digital books that registered members can download using their personal password. Each member then, “reads” the books through synthetic-voice reading computers, Braille tapes or other electronic reading devices for people with disabilities.
What´s
the benefit and potential of Tiflolibros?
Internet and other new technologies offer an incredible opportunity for the integration to society of people with disabilities, not only through new tools but also through cost-effective collaboration, and improvement and decentralization of processes.
Applying these new ideas, Tiflolibros facilitates the access of blind people to knowledge, at lower costs and with wider reach.
Why is reading so important for a blind person?
“It has open the world to me”, is the usual comment of a blind about reading. Books give blind people education, entertainment, discovery, independence, intellectual challenge and new opportunities.
Tiflolibros is a non-profit organization
coordinated by the group of founders, and built through the effort of its
members all over the world. Pablo Lecuona, blind, candidate to a Bachelor in
Arts degree in Social Communications at Universidad de Buenos Aires, is the
Executive Director. Mara Lis Vilar, special education teacher, with focus in
blind and visually impaired; André Duré, blind, programmer and technical
coordinator; and Marta Traina, blind, Communications student complete the
founding team. María Ángeles
González Mateo represents Tiflolibros in Spain.
There is also an important group of
blind and non-blind people that collaborates in the process of updating and
administrate the library.
How
do I register or help someone register?
Registration is only
open to people with disabilities to read print books. A proof of disability is
asked upon registration.
You need to have access to a computer with a voice reader, or them you can
access to AudioBooks in MP3 format recorded with sintetic voices.
To start the registration process send
a mail to:
tiflolibros@tiflolibros.com.ar
Note that Spanish is the official language of Tiflolibros, although there are books in foreign languages and volunteers ready to help if you really need info in other languages.
Is
there any cost to use the library?
Registration to
Tiflolibros is absolutely free. Nevertheless, there is a recommended donation of
the equivalent to two print books every six months (e.g. $50 in the U.S.) to
support the library's operation.
Telling other people
about Tiflolibros. In many communities the blind are marginalized and denied
access to culture. We want to use the power of Internet to reach as many blind
people as we can with our library. Your word-of-mouth can help.
Donating computers. For
many Latin American blind people a computer is out of reach. By donating a
computer to Tiflolibros you can help more blind people have access to education,
culture and better opportunities.
Donating money.
Tiflolibros is supported through the efforts of its founders and users, without
any other financing (an unfortunately and very common situation for non-profit
organizations in Latin America). Any donation can help.
Donation can be sent to
:
Estados
Unidos 3548 "B"
Ciudad
de Buenos Aires, (1228) - Argentina -
Tel/Fax: (54) 11- 4931- 9002
Or you can make a deposit in the following accounts (and sending after a confirmation mail to fondos@tiflolibros.com.ar ):
|
Argentina |
|
España |
|
|
In Latin America:
Pablo Lecuona – Executive
Director
Ciudad de Buenos Aires
Argentina
pablol@tiflolibros.com.ar
In Europe:
Antonio Fernández Zaldívar
Calle Manuel de Falla Nº 11, 1º A.
C.P. 18500 - Guadix - Granada - Andalucía - España
958 66 20 73
rogyanto@wanadoo.es
In
the U.S.:
María Laura Lecuona –
Advisor
mllecuona@tiflonexos.com.ar
