Nota - The Danish National Library for the Blind - is an institution under the The Danish Ministry of Culture. Nota provides services to the blind, the visually impaired and other persons whose handicap prevent them from reading standard printed material.
Address: Teglvaerksgade 37, DK-2100 Copenhagen OE, Denmark
Telephone: + 45 39 13 46 00
Fax: + 45 39 13 46 01
E-mail: info@nota.nu
It is Nota's vision to provide full access to the information society for everybody including the people with disabilities.
Nota produces and mediates materials in audio, in Braille and as computer files. Nota's collection of materials is available to those who fulfill the conditions for registration as Nota users.
The Danish National Library for the Blind is also a resource center, providing advice to the rest of the library service in questions concerning the disabled.
The director of Nota is Michael Wright 
Nota is divided into four areas, each covering a number of different functions:
The Communication area covers the library and the Marketing department.
The Production area covers the audio production, the Braille production and the e-book production. Head of the Production area is:
Production manager Inge Padkær Nielsen
The Joint services area covers administration and human resource management. The Joint services is run by:
HR-manager Susanne Hansen
IT covers operation and development of IT services and products.
Head of development, IT: Ole Holst Andersen
Contact Nota Marketing:
Communication: Liselotte Klint 
Online services: Simon Moe
Strategies
In 2000 the Danish National Library for the Blind began the process of a complete shift of technology which, over the next few years, will change the organization and the way it completes it's tasks considerably. The former industry culture will fundamentally be changed into a culture based on knowledge, technology and values.
Nota has begun converting the production of analogue talking books to digital talking books with structure. This conversion is a large scale project which will continue for into 2003 as it includes both the development of new recording techniques and the conversion of 120.000 hours of analogue recording to digital recording with structure. As a pilot project Nota already offers the possibility to join Nota Digital Audio Book Club thus users will get familiar with the new digital possibilities.
In order to give our users access to the largest possible quantity of information, other keywords for Nota's work will be breadth and volume. As a result, the emphasis during the contract period will be on adopting standard solutions and universal designs wherever possible. Production is being streamlined and operations rationalized at a speed which is already showing results.
Nota's new strategies calls for new requirements among all employees.
Teh new skills will help substantiate a culture characterized by knowledge, advanced technology and fruitful transcendings of old demarcation lines. Therefore all employees at Nota are participating in several extensive training projects. These projects are meant to give the employees an opportunity to play a meaningful role in the future of Nota.
Nota has a performance contract with the Danish Ministry of Culture. During the contract period 2000-2003, Nota's overall goal is to enhance equal access to information, digitalization is the means.
Read more about the strategies of the performance contract in The Danish National Library for the Blind is taking a major step into the future.
According to the Library Act passed by the Danish Parliament in 2000:
Article 15: "The Danish National Library for the Blind will serve as a national center for the public libraries by procuring for them materials specially designed for blind, partially sighted and other whose handicap prevent them from reading normal printed text. The Danish National Library for the Blind will provide lending material from Denmark and abroad as part of the service provided by the public library service to the above-mentioned groups of users."
"Part 2. The Danish National Library for the Blind will provide advice to the library service about matters of importance to the service of the group of users mentioned in part 1."
In the wake of the establishment of the world's first institute for the blind in Paris in 1784, the Royal Institute for the Blind was inaugurated in Copenhagen in 1811 under the auspices of the charitable association "Kjæden" with the King as its protector. Blind pupils learned practical skills at the Institute and learned to read books with large, protruding Latin letters.
Due to the invention of Braille in 1825, the Institute for the Blind was reorganized in 1857 and "The Blind in Denmark" was set up as a private charitable organization to support needy blind people and procure literature.
The State Printshop and Library for the Blind was set up under the Ministry of Social Affairs in 1924, making Denmark one of the first countries in the world to acknowledge its responsibility for making information available and accessible to blind people.
In 1984, a computer system was introduced to take care of all the lending functions, placing the institution at the forefront of the technological conversion process that was about to commence in the Danish public library service.
The institution was transferred from the Ministry of Social Affairs to the Ministry of Culture in 1985, creating the basis for some of the most important advances in library services for the disabled persons. The Ministry changed the name of the institution to "Nota" - Nota.
The introduction of new positions and job descriptions at Nota made it possible to employ trained librarians in all the posts that required professional training. This had not been the case before.
In 1978, only 3 trained librarians worked for the institution. By 1992, the figure had risen to 11.
The comparatively late onset of professionalism was due to the library's history and special function. Originally, its primary role was as a production center with associated lending facilities. Later, this changed to a library with associated production facilities. The transformation had been a necessary precondition for the ongoing improvement of the lending and borrowing service and for the future partnership with the rest of the library service in Denmark.
Museum of the History of the Blind at the Institute for the Blind and Partially Sighted in Denmark http://www.ibos.dk/
Opening hours: Tuesdays 13-16:00, except public holidays and school holidays. Visits by arrangement.
You can search the museum's database on the Institute's website.
