What We Do
JBI provides people of all ages and backgrounds living with blindness, low vision, or print disability access to a vast circulating library, liturgical texts, customized materials, and cultural offerings, enabling connection to the rich literary, cultural, and religious life of the Jewish community.
To access any of the below offerings, please register with JBI HERE, or contact our librarians via phone or email at: Phone: 212-889-2525 Email: library@jbilibrary.org
JBI’s Circulating Library
Our Library includes a broad spectrum of Jewish-interest audio, large print, and braille books, distributed free of charge directly to our patrons’ doorsteps; after enjoying the materials, patrons return them, postage free.
We offer more than 13,000+ circulating audiobooks and several thousand braille titles and large print materials, encompassing fiction, history, biography, short stories, periodicals, humor, liturgical texts, poetry, Jewish studies, memoirs, cookbooks, and more, with new titles added regularly.
Our reader advisors offer personalized service and are available to take any special requests that can aid and enhance connection to Jewish life, in English or Russian.
Our audiobooks are available in English, Russian, Yiddish, Spanish, French, Hebrew, Hungarian, Romanian, and Polish.
For more information, please contact our librarians: via phone: 212-889-2525 x127 or 1-800-433-1531 via email: library@jbilibrary.org
Audiobooks:
Browse our online catalog:
Download a PDF catalog of our circulating catalog:
Interested in audiobooks in French, Spanish, Hungarian, Romanian or Polish? Email our librarians at library@jbilibrary.org.
Large Print:
Braille:
JBI’s Liturgical, Biblical, & Lifecycle Materials
Religious texts for all denominations are available for our patrons’ permanent ongoing use by request and free of charge. We offer materials in large print, braille, and audio formats, including: a variety of Haggadot; prayer books; the Bible; special services, including Yizkor service, Shabbat, daily prayers, and Kaddish/memorial prayers; and more. Large print liturgical texts are also available in Russian and Hebrew. All are given as permanent gifts and do not need to be returned.
Order liturgical materials
JBI’s Customized Materials
JBI prides itself on fulfilling a wide range of personalized requests for individuals who are blind, have low-vision, or are print disabled to help them participate fully in Jewish life and learning. We make customized materials in braille, audio, and large print formats for individuals, larger groups, and organizations.
Parents and educators turn to JBI to produce textbooks, educational materials, Torah and Haftorah portions, etc. for students working to obtain a Jewish education, participate in holiday celebrations, learn Hebrew, become bar/bat mitzvah, and otherwise be active in the Jewish community.
Other special requests have included song books for Jewish summer camps, poems for readings at weddings, lyrics for participation in a choir, materials for funeral homes (such as mourners minyan materials), and brochures for museums and other organizations looking to make their services more inclusive and accessible.
Our reader advisors offer personalized service in English or Russian and are available to take any special requests that can aid and enhance connection to Jewish life. For more information, please contact our librarians: via phone: 212-889-2525 x127 or 1-800-433-1531 via email: library@jbilibrary.org
JBI’s Jewish Culture & Community Offerings
JBI provides various special programs and projects that enhance connection to the Jewish community.
We offer compilations of Jewish interest articles from a variety of Jewish and secular news sources, including:
- JBI Voices in audio format
- The Jewish Braille Review in hard copy braille and braille ready format (BRF)
- JBI Russian Voices in Russian-language audio format
- The JBI Cultural Series in audio format, featuring concerts, lectures, poetry, and dramatic readings
We also produce an annual Jewish calendar in large print and braille, in English and Russian.
Special programs
Recently, we have also begun to offer cultural programs to enhance participation in the Jewish community, including a virtual Jewish poetry workshop series and virtual book clubs. We will continue to explore expanding future programs and initiatives.
Scholarships
The Nathan L. and Suzanne K. Wolfson Merit Awards provides educational scholarships to blind and visually impaired Jewish college students. Visit WolfsonFund.org to learn more.
Contact Us
For more information on JBI’s Culture & Community offerings, please contact our librarians:
via phone: 212-889-2525 x127 or 1-800-433-1531
via email: library@jbilibrary.org
via phone: 212-889-2525 x127 or 1-800-433-1531
via email: library@jbilibrary.org
Accessibility Consulting Services
In addition to serving individuals directly, JBI recently expanded its work to provide materials to a wide range of groups and organizations to help them meet the accessibility needs of their communities. JBI can transcribe and produce printed texts into braille, audio, or large print format that make your programming, your services, and your communities more accessible for people with visual impairment.
Thanks to a two-year grant from the New York Community Trust, we are now able to help any New York City-based nonprofit organization become more inclusive for members of the community who are blind, have visual impairment, or are print disabled. JBI will create accessible versions of printed texts in braille, large print, and audio formats —in most cases, at no cost. Read the press release here.
For organizations outside of New York City and not funded by the NYCT grant, JBI charges a modest fee to cover our own costs.
To find out how JBI can provide accessible material for your organization, please contact Outreach Consultant Roslyn Biskin at 646-616-3928 or rbiskin@jbilibray.org.
Examples of materials that JBI can transform into braille, large print or audio format:
- Programs, booklets, guides
- Postcards, flyers, brochures
- Newsletters and fact sheets
- Signage, posters, materials on display
- Museum walking tours
- Songbooks
- Business cards, forms, letters/letterhead
- Liturgical materials
Also available: Jewish liturgical materials from JBI
- Jewish calendars (customizable for your organization)
- Any liturgical works from JBI’s accessible collection (Haggadot, Siddurim, Machzorim, Five Books, Megillot, etc.)