In library service for the visually impaired, the central institution, which provides services all over the country by cooperating with the other institutions concerned, plays an important role as do libraries, which provide services directly. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the process and background of the formation and features of the Swedish Library of Talking Books and Braille. For the study, the historical development of the library, the reports of the advisory committees and the basic ideology of social welfare are considered. As a result, the following points were found. 1)Volunteers founded the Swedish Library of Talking Books and Braille. It became the Library of the Association of the Visually Impaired later. Parts of library services were covered by statefunds. The library was transferred to the State. The library is a national library of talking books and braille under the control of the Ministry of Education. 2)The following plans of the advisory committees were carried out: (1)the extension of the user groups of talking books, (2)the transfer of the library to the State, (3)the production and circulation of talking books to be shared between the libraries. 3)The ideas and system of social welfare have a big effect upon library service for the visually impaired.
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