I have been reading this thread with some interest. Some excellent
points have been made here. I tend to use NLS for fiction books and
to scan my nonfiction. I do that because I'm more likely to want to
skip around or repeat things in a nonfiction book, especially
something like a cookbook. NLS seems to be phasing out their Braille
support. My state has abandoned support for Braille completely so
that we are supposed to contact a library out west somewhere. I
tried to sort through the maze of switching over and finally gave up
in confusion. Reading things like cookbooks or how-to books on
cassette is maddening for me, so I scan instead.
I find the NLS dabbling in abridged books disturbing. Abridged books are like being served half of your lunch and pretending you've got the whole thing. It's not legally or morally wrong for them to do the abridged books I suppose, but it's not the same as equal access to the print book. I think sighted people started the trend of book abridgement so they could read the "whole" book during their commute to and from work. It's convenient for them, but it means that most audiobooks are in abridged form these days. If NLS starts that dance too, I will be a very unhappy camper.
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