Conquest Graphics is the only printing house used by the Braille Circulating Library (Library). Thanks to the grant awarded to use for printing services this year, advertising expenses have been minimal. This cost savings is important for a non-profit organization that is supported only by donations. People want to know that their financial contributions will be used to carry out of the mission of the organization.

The services provided by Conquest Graphics this year allowed the Library to update currently used marketing tools as well as to add a new one, a business card. The business card proved to be popular with the Library’s Board of Directors. These individuals were pleased to have something that they could easily carry with them and use for impromptu conversations about how the Library serves the blind.

The items printed in 2022 presented the history, mission, vision and operation of the Braille Circulating Library (Library) as a cohesive set of branded material. These items were designed in-house and sent to Conquest Graphics and the printing staff worked with us to ensure that the details of our design met their specifications.

Even though much of life is read or heard from electronic devices, printed material still plays a vital role in the effective dissemination of information. Specifically related to our organization, communicating in print about the inability of some to even see it, is an important way to lead people to think about life from a different perspective. Print is tangible, providing a tactile object lesson that engages the brain through the sense of sight, as well as of touch. In this way, printed material for the Library is a good example of silent “Show and Tell” that raises awareness of just one aspect of what it may be like to live with no or low vision. That alone is a step forward in drawing the public’s attention to the need that our organization addresses by providing resources in Braille, Large Print and audio formats to the blind and vision-impaired. Remove printed material from everyday life and there would be an immediate and serious disruption in communication and comprehension, in the continuity of life in general.

Printed informational material is an important aspect of marketing for the Library. These items are kept in the greeting area for onsite visitors, and serve as reminders of what our guests saw and heard while on site. The Library also mails advertising material to new contacts with letters of introduction, and with letters in follow-up to introductory conversations. Of course, they are very handy at events, lending professionalism to displays. We give them to people who stop for a chat, so that people can remember the Library’s mission, how it works to fulfill it, or pass along the information to someone else. Of course, the contact information printed on the cards and bookmarks are handy if anyone desires to financially or otherwise support the work of the Library.

In 2022, a 4”x6” informational card replaced the outdated brochure. Printed on front and back, this sturdy, professional-looking card describes in a smaller space, all of the pertinent information about the Library at a glance. Now printed in a new color to match the business and informational cards, our custom bookmark serves dual purposes. Each time it is used to mark a place or is removed, it serves to remind the sighted of the Library and of people with no or low vision who have less access to the variety of books than they have. A local bookstore hands these to customers with their purchases and receipts!

The printed letterhead envelopes are also marketing tools. Not only do they compliment the letterhead paper they enclose, they also lend to the professional image of the organization and are themselves a useful communication tool. As they flow through the delivery process, people other than the intended recipients see the Library’s name and by-line. In these ways, printed envelopes serve not only as agents to convey receipts and thanks to donors, and introductions to the organization but also as agents of advertising, in and of themselves.

Understanding the high cost of publishing a catalog in braille, patrons have expressed interest in a printed catalog because it could be read to them by family and friends. A printed catalog would also be a useful item to have at events, to give visitors a quick read of the Library’s shelves without having to navigate the electronic catalog. On a day-to-day basis, this tool would be helpful to staff as they search for books among the stacks. Almost anything printed can later be embossed with braille making it useful for both the blind and the sighted.

Print will always be recognized as a viable means for the Braille Circulating Library to communicate. It’s basic, it’s relational, and it can be read without relying upon electronic devices. As you can see, a printing grant from Conquest Graphics for 2023 would allow the Library to update its marketing tools, reprint as necessary, and create new materials without spending much time and effort to raise funds to cover the cost.