VIDBE-Q Volume 68 Issue 3
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students are also served by the library at FBC, which provides any braille and
large-print materials that they may need. Finally, FBC provides assistive
technology to students through a lease program funded by a grant from Major
League Baseball.
Without the books our transcribers provide, a blind student is invisible in a
classroom. Most teachers don't understand how to meet their needs, and
our library provides these underestimated students with literacy and the
same opportunities given to their sighted peers.
The above quote, shared by FBC's Braille Coordinator Kelly Pritts,
underscores the importance of access to literature for all children. The first
librarian at FBC was hired in 1960. Originally tasked with producing braille and
large-print materials for FBC's small number of students, the scope of the role
quickly expanded to include production and distribution of materials to other
students across Arizona. Well past its humble beginning, FBC has since been
tasked by the Arizona Department of Education with providing educational
materials to all blind and low-vision students in the state.
Today, FBC's library not only serves students in Arizona, but is also
contracted to serve students in 38 states. Tens of thousands of titles have been
produced by FBC over the years. In 2018, that total was supplemented by a
donation of the archives from the Jane Bente Braille Center at the New Jersey Red
Cross. The FBC library is growing constantly. 126 transcribers work to produce
