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How to Transcribe Books to Braille

Braille is an alphabet allowing the blind to be able to read print; each letter is represented by a different combination of raised dots on the surface of the page. Although there are new books published daily, there are only a small number of Braille titles as it is relatively expensive to transcribe books into Braille. It also requires specific machinery, a certified and trained individual to properly perform the transcription and proofreaders who know Braille to read over the transcription and make any edits or corrections.

Things You'll Need

  • Original book
  • 6-Key Braille typing machine
  • Certified typist and transcriber
  • Proofreader
  • Zinc master plates
  • Paper
  • Braille computer software
  • 3-Ring binder
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Instructions

    • 1

      Study Braille and become trained and certified using a Braille typing machine. This is a 2 year training course conducted by the National Library Service for the Blind and has a test at the end, before their final certification. This process is relatively expensive and labor intensive, though it will be the most thorough way to transcribe a book into Braille. However, there are also computer software programs that can transcribe a book into Braille in seconds. Use whichever method works best for your purposes.

    • 2

      Give the transcribed Braille manuscript to a proofreader, who is usually blind and knows how to read Braille as well as a copy editor. They will make notes and corrections to errors before time and money is spent publishing the Braille book.

    • 3

      Bring the final proofread copy of the Braille manuscript to the printing press, where Zinc plates are made from every page, making a master of the book. These bowed Zinc plates fit into the printing press, which then prints each page of raised indentations.

    • 4

      Run press feed paper into the printing press and allow the machines and the zinc plates do the work. No ink will be needed, as these plates will only make permanent indentations on each page.

    • 5

      Place pages in order by hand. Mechanical collators are known to mash the dots and ruin Braille books, so each book must be put together by hand with each page in a specific order. Some books are put into 3-ring binders and others are saddle stitched and bound in hard cover format.

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