[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 36, Volume 3]
[Revised as of July 1, 2001]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 36CFR701.10]

[Page 66-67]
 
              TITLE 36--PARKS, FORESTS, AND PUBLIC PROPERTY
 
                    CHAPTER VII--LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
 
PART 701--PROCEDURES AND SERVICES--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 701.10  Loans of library materials for blind and other physically handicapped persons.

    (a) Program. In connection with the Library's program of service 
under the Act of March 3, 1931 (46 Stat. 1487), as amended, its National 
Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped provides books 
in raised characters (braille), on sound reproduction recordings, or in 
any other form, under regulations established by the Librarian of 
Congress. The National Library Service also provides and maintains 
reproducers for such sound reproduction recordings for the use of blind 
and other physically handicapped residents of the United States, 
including the several States, Territories, Insular Possessions, and the 
District of Columbia, and American citizens temporarily domiciled 
abroad.
    (b) Eligibility criteria. (1) The following persons are eligible for 
such service:
    (i) Blind persons whose visual acuity, as determined by competent 
authority, is 20/200 or less in the better eye with correcting glasses, 
or whose widest diameter if visual field subtends an angular distance no 
greater than 20 degrees.
    (ii) Persons whose visual disability, with correction and regardless 
of optical measurement, is certified by competent authority as 
preventing the reading of standard printed material.
    (iii) Persons certified by competent authority as unable to read or 
unable to use standard printed material as a result of physical 
limitations.
    (iv) Persons certified by competent authority as having a reading 
disability resulting from organic dysfunction and of sufficient severity 
to prevent their reading printed material in a normal manner.
    (2) In connection with eligibility for loan services ``competent 
authority'' is defined as follows:
    (i) In cases of blindness, visual disability, or physical 
limitations ``competent authority'' is defined to include doctors of 
medicine, doctors of osteopathy, ophthalmologists, optometrists, 
registered nurses, therapists, professional staff of hospitals, 
institutions, and public or welfare agencies (e.g., social workers, case 
workers, counselors, rehabilitation teachers, and superintendents). In 
the absence of any of these, certification may be made by professional 
librarians or by any persons whose competence under specific 
circumstances is acceptable to the Library of Congress.
    (ii) In the case of reading disability from organic dysfunction, 
competent authority is defined as doctors of medicine who may consult 
with colleagues in associated disciplines.
    (c) Loans through regional libraries. Sound reproducers are lent to 
individuals and appropriate centers through agencies, libraries, and 
other organizations designated by the Librarian of Congress to service 
specific geographic areas, to certify eligibility of prospective 
readers, and to arrange for maintenance and repair of reproducers. 
Libraries designated by the Librarian of Congress serve as local or 
regional centers for the direct loan of such books, reproducers, or 
other specialized material to eligible readers in specific geographic 
areas. They share in the certification of prospective readers, and 
utilize all available channels of communication to acquaint the public 
within their jurisdiction with all aspects of the program.
    (d) National collections. The Librarian of Congress, through the 
National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, 
defines regions and determines the need for new regional libraries in 
cooperation with other libraries or agencies whose activities are 
primarily concerned with the blind and physically handicapped. It serves 
as the center from which books, recordings, sound reproducers, and other 
specialized materials are lent to eligible blind and physically 
handicapped readers who may be temporarily domiciled outside the 
jurisdictions enumerated

[[Page 67]]

by the Act. It maintains a special collection of books in raised 
characters and on sound reproduction recordings not housed in regional 
libraries and makes these materials available to eligible borrowers on 
interlibrary loan.
    (e) Institutions. The reading materials and sound reproducers for 
the use of blind and physically handicapped persons may be loaned to 
individuals who qualify, to institutions such as nursing homes and 
hospitals, and to schools for the blind or physically handicapped for 
the use of such persons only. The reading materials and sound 
reproducers may also be used in public or private schools where 
handicapped students are enrolled; however, the students in public or 
private schools must be certified as eligible on an individual basis and 
must be the direct and only recipients of the materials and equipment.
    (f) Musical scores. The National Library Service also maintains a 
library of musical scores, instructional texts, and other specialized 
materials for the use of the blind and other physically handicapped 
residents of the United States and its possessions in furthering their 
educational, vocational, and cultural opportunities in the field of 
music. Such scores, texts, and materials are made available on a loan 
basis under regulations developed by the Librarian of Congress in 
consultation with persons, organizations, and agencies engaged in work 
for the blind and for other physically handicapped persons.
    (g) Veterans. In the lending of such books, recordings, reproducers, 
musical scores, instructional texts, and other specialized materials, 
preference shall be at all times given to the needs of the blind and 
other physically handicapped persons who have been honorably discharged 
from the Armed Forces of the United States.
    (h) Inquiries for information relative to the prescribed procedures 
and regulations governing such loans and requests for loans should be 
addressed to: Director, National Library Service for the Blind and 
Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress, Washington, DC 20542.

[39 FR 20203, June 7, 1974, as amended at 46 FR 48661, Oct. 2, 1981]