{"id":134301,"date":"2026-03-10T09:30:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T09:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/134301\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T09:30:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T09:30:13","slug":"pennsylvanias-library-of-accessible-media-is-right-here-in-philly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/134301\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania\u2019s Library of Accessible Media is right here in Philly"},"content":{"rendered":"

Love Philly? So do we. Let\u2019s be friends. The Billy Penn newsletter keeps you informed about everything Philly, with a quirky vibe of healthy skepticism and persistent optimism.\u00a0Join us and sign up today.<\/a><\/p>\n

When you walk through the Library of Accessible Media right off of Spring Garden Street, the first thing to catch your eye may be the stacks of Braille.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nestled inside hundreds of movable shelves, LAMP\u2019s Braille collection aims to give its readers a wide variety of titles to choose from, said Tara Lynne Murphy, the organization\u2019s chief librarian.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe lend out Braille,\u201d Murphy said.\u00a0 \u201cAnd a Braille book is a lot different than your regular hardcover. Braille is a lot bigger because it\u2019s embossed, and so it could be anywhere from one volume to, say, I know the Joy of Cooking is something like 30 volumes of Braille.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Braille often takes up multiple volumes for each title on the shelves (Violet Comber-Wilen\/Billy Penn) <\/p>\n

The Library of Accessible Media for Pennsylvanians, or LAMP, is one of two spaces in the state that offers materials for its patrons.<\/p>\n

Although they don\u2019t have a browsable, in-person collection, their reach is wide.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe serve anyone who cannot pick up a book with their two hands and read like that,\u201d Murphy said. \u201cSo it\u2019s not just people who have vision challenges.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The library provides services to Pennsylvanians with temporary or permanent disabilities and is a part of the Library of Congress\u2019 National Library Service, Library for the Blind and Print Disabled.<\/a><\/p>\n

The nationwide network circulates materials free of charge to eligible participants of all ages. LAMP serves Pennsylvania through two locations at the Free Library of Philadelphia and the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe send out Braille, we send out large print to our patrons, and we have audio players and refreshable Braille devices that we\u2019re able to send out for that have the materials either preloaded on them, or they can download them to their devices,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Refreshable Braille devices can be mailed out to eligible patrons, Murphy said. (Violet Comber-Wilen\/Billy Penn) <\/p>\n

Materials\u00a0<\/p>\n

Murphy said the library has a variety of special materials \u2013 this includes books for those with dyslexia or declining vision, and books for those with a temporary or permanent disability who have lost the ability to use their hands.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are also hundreds of Braille stacks for blind readers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Murphy said having lots of Braille materials is important \u2013 especially for children.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really important to keep the literacy going,\u201d she said. \u201cBraille is incredibly important for people who may be born blind to be able to learn that literacy aspect. It really helps with your brain development. And, say, if kids go to school without knowing how to read with Braille, it\u2019s going to be a real challenge later on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"A \u201ctwin vision\u201d book in the LAMP collection, which allows both blind and sighted readers to read together (Violet Comber-Wilen\/Billy Penn) <\/p>\n

Twenty-five percent of the library\u2019s books are geared toward children. One such resource is \u201ctwin vision\u201d books \u2013 books designed to allow both blind and sighted readers to read together.\u00a0<\/p>\n

These books have clear, plastic braille sheets overlaid on standard printed text. This allows for families of varying vision levels to read together.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Murphy said having a wide variety of titles available for the Dyslexic population is vital as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the state of Pennsylvania, [it\u2019s important] just being able to get them to the resources,\u201d she said. \u201cBecause that is a very common condition that drops through the cracks a lot, especially with our kids in our education system.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"The library has a selection of large print books as well. (Violet Comber-Wilen\/Billy Penn) <\/p>\n

Murphy said another unique aspect of the library is personalized recommendations and materials for patrons.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo in their profile, it shows like, \u2018Oh, you\u2019re interested in romances, but it has to be clean romances, no swear words, no naughty content or anything like that,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cA lot of Amish romances are very popular with our patrons, but we also have detective stories or other books if somebody wants something more graphic.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

She explained that the traditional Free Library of Philadelphia branches don\u2019t keep a record of books patrons check out once they\u2019ve checked them back in. But at LAMP, books stay on people\u2019s records \u2013 allowing for a better understanding of what books people enjoy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you fill out the profile, and then our system goes through and actually selects the materials for you,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"The library also lends out audiobook players. (Violet Comber-Wilen\/Billy Penn) <\/p>\n

Recording studio<\/p>\n

One of LAMP\u2019s newest additions is a recording studio \u2013 where volunteers read audiobooks for the library.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"LAMP\u2019s recording studio is located in a cozy corner in their building. (Violet Comber-Wilen\/Billy Penn) <\/p>\n

Due to recent media attention,<\/a> Murphy said the recording studio has received hundreds of volunteer applications. However, she said this is welcome news.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still would like interested parties to sign up,\u201d she said. \u201cThey need to go through the whole process of being a volunteer with the Free Library, which does include clearances.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kate Loitz is one of the organization\u2019s volunteers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been doing this work for about 50 years, starting in a closed circuit radio station, and eventually got into book recording for the Talking Book & Braille Library books in Seattle,\u201d she said. \u201cSo when this reopened last summer, I was the first one in.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Loitz was an English major and works as an actor and singer. She explained that this work is extra fulfilling to her.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that I\u2019m providing a valuable service to people who have requested what I\u2019m doing,\u201d she said. \u201cThese aren\u2019t randomly selected books. These have been requested, so I know someone is waiting to hear them, and it\u2019s that person I\u2019m reading to, typically, and then they go into the permanent collection.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Murphy said virtually any book can be recorded if it hasn\u2019t been recorded already by another author or narrator.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause we\u2019re part of the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled, we have some very relaxed copyright situations, so we can record anything that basically hasn\u2019t been recorded before,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She explained patrons can request books that they want to read, but that the recording studio does a lot of recording for local titles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe focus mainly on local titles or local interest, whether it is just in Philadelphia proper, or the state of Pennsylvania,\u201d she said. \u201cWe do talk to our sister location in Pittsburgh to make sure we\u2019re not duplicating any titles that are coming through.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Loitz showcases a local title she is currently recording (Violet Comber-Wilen\/Billy Penn) <\/p>\n

The recording process can be lengthy, Murphy said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt usually will take about 20 to 30 hours of actual recording time to get that book done, and then we have the back-end processing of making sure it\u2019s marked up with the right chapters and that sort of thing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

But Loitz explained that this work is vital.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy attitude is that books can save people, and people who can\u2019t read a physical book deserve access just as much as anyone else to all kinds of books, whether they\u2019re dirty books or history books or an adventurous novel,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople deserve to have access, and that\u2019s what we give them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

For the future, Murphy said she hopes to expand offerings even more.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are looking to start up more programming here,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve doubled the size of my staff in the past two and a half years so that we have more people to do outreach. We want to make sure that people understand that they\u2019re welcome here.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"For now, hundreds of volunteers will continue to rotate in and out of the LAMP recording studio\u2019s doors (Violet Comber-Wilen\/Billy Penn) <\/p>\n

Other potential resources include a \u201cCooking without Looking\u201d program, or cooking classes for those with visual impairments, and expanding on materials like Braille LEGO sets.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Love Philly? So do we. Let\u2019s be friends. The Billy Penn newsletter keeps you informed about everything Philly,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134302,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4877,38325,227,564,27032,62030,46384,28,30,29],"class_list":["post-134301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-arts","tag-disability-rights","tag-education","tag-featured","tag-libraries","tag-library-of-accessible-media","tag-library-of-congress","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134301\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}