NLS Services to American Citizens Abroad

Borrowing and Using Equipment

Borrowing Equipment

When completing your application, you will indicate the equipment you would like to borrow. We will automatically send you equipment set for the type of electrical current used in the country of your address. In the United States, electrical current is 110-volts, 60 cycles alternating current. In some other countries, the current is the same, while in others 220-volt, 50 cycles alternating current is used. If you have taken with you equipment loaned from a cooperating library in the United States, please be certain that the current is 110-volt, or that you use a voltage converter if it is 220-volt, before plugging in the machine.

We send equipment either directly to you or to the care of a U.S. embassy or consulate near you. We will write to you when the machine is shipped. If your machine is sent to the embassy or consulate, you should make arrangements to get it. When machines are sent to embassies or consulates, the mailing time is from ten to thirty days. When sent to a reader's local address, machines travel as Free Matter, surface mail. Eight to twelve weeks is not unusual for mail time.

Using Equipment

Instructions on how to operate the equipment are enclosed with the machine. The equipment is thoroughly tested and serviced before we mail it. Occasionally, however, you might experience equipment malfunctions. See the next section, equipment malfunction, to learn steps you can take to restore operation.

Returning the Equipment

Other than performing maintenance described here, please do not attempt to repair a machine. Return it to NLS and request a replacement. When returning to the United States or when requesting a replacement machine, please return the equipment to NLS as free matter using the following address:

Inventory Management Section
Library of Congress
National Library Service for the
Blind and Physically Handicapped
Washington, DC 20542
USA

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Posted on 2010-08-25