REFERENCE AND ADULT Services Librarian Vicki Underhill shows off a Talking Books machine and cartridge at the Dickinson County Library in Iron Mountain.

IRON MOUNTAIN — Great Lakes Talking Books, an affiliate of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress, offers free library service to people with temporary or permanent low vision, blindness, or a physical disability that prevents them from reading or holding the printed page.

Through a national network of cooperating libraries, including the Dickinson County Library, NLS offers free audio books and magazines on cartridge, along with a Talking Book machine and headphones, for people who love to read but find it a struggle to do so. Reading materials are available in braille or recorded audiobook format, mailed to patrons for free or instantly downloadable online or through a mobile app on iOS or Android mobile devices. There is never a charge for postage when receiving or returning cartridges. NLS offers books, magazines, and more, in accessible formats, so that all may read.

The public can meet the Talking Book advisor for the Great Lakes Talking Books Center, Lynn Buckland-Brown, at 1 p.m. Thursday at the Dickinson County Library in Iron Mountain.

If you or someone you know has difficulty reading regular print or holding a book, join us at this session to learn more about what the Great Lakes Talking Book Center has to offer. A physical or visual disability doesn’t have to limit your enjoyment of the written word.

For more information about NLS, go to www.loc.gov/ThatAllMayRead or call the Great Lakes Talking Books Center at 1-800-562-8985, ext. 0.

If you do not suffer from visual impairment, but are unable to visit the library in person, ask us about the Books-by-Mail program.

They mail library materials with prepaid postage in a special mailing bag and items can be returned for free in the same way, so library patrons can enjoy reading without the difficulties of traveling to a branch. Contact the Dickinson County Library at 906-774-1218 with questions or to sign up for Books-by-Mail.