Our service and what you can borrow

Audiobooks from the Print Disabilities Service on display.

Read how audiobooks and eBooks can help students who struggle to use a regular print book. Find out who can use our service and what you can borrow.

On this page

What is a print disability?

A print disability is a difficulty or inability to read printed material due to a visual, perceptual or physical disability. This includes (but is not limited to):

  • vision impairment or blindness

  • dyslexia

  • dyspraxia

  • Irlen Syndrome

  • certain physical disabilities.

How audiobooks and eBooks can help

The importance of reading is well documented. For those who are unable to read standard print, audiobooks or eBooks may work as good alternatives for them.

There are many benefits to using audiobooks.

  • Listening to an audiobook while following along with the text may help a student with dyslexia keep up with the rest of the class and allow them to contribute to discussions.

  • Students with a reading ability below their comprehension level may enjoy more complex stories in audio than they can manage in print format.

  • For students who struggle to decode text, reading is not usually an enjoyable experience. Listening to an audiobook may remove the barriers and open up the amazing world of stories to them.

Some of the benefits of eBooks are:

  • eBooks in EPUB format can be downloaded and read on a variety of devices such as a smartphone, tablet, e-reader or computer

  • eBooks can be customised to provide users with a richer reading experience — for example, background colour, font and type size can be changed

  • screen readers can often be used with eBooks.

Who can borrow

All Aotearoa New Zealand school students who struggle to use a regular print book may be eligible to borrow our audiobooks, eAudios and eBooks.

Access to our resources is through your school library.

One school staff member is nominated to be the contact person. They are usually the librarian or SENCO (Special Education Needs Coordinator). They borrow physical items on behalf of qualifying students. To qualify, the student must have a print disability. No certificate or formal assessment is required, just an acknowledgement that the student struggles to use regular print resources.

Our Wheelers ePlatform offer with eAudios and eBooks is available to:

  • state and state-integrated schools

  • registered home educators (people who home school their children) and their students.

The nominated contact person will be allocated a username for each student who qualifies and wants to use the ePlatform. We have a limited number of usernames.

Registered home-educated students with a print disability qualify for full access to the physical audiobook collection. Those who don't have access to Wheelers ePlatform through their public library may also apply for access to the Print Disabilities Service Wheelers ePlatform.

What you can borrow

The Print Disabilities Collection holds around 20,000 physical audiobooks, more than 500 eAudios and 1,500 eBooks. There are titles to suit a range of reading/comprehension ages from preschool through to senior secondary and adult.

Most of the children and young adult titles are ideal for recreational reading. They include popular fiction from authors such as David Walliams, Margaret Mahy, James Patterson, Garth Nix, Jeff Kinney, Claudia Gray, Bren MacDibble and Stacy Gregg. If we hold a title that a print-disabled student is studying, they are welcome to borrow it to support their learning.

The physical collection is mostly in CD format. There is also a good selection of MP3 CDs, kits (CD plus book) and VOX talking picture books.

eBooks and eAudios are available on our Wheelers ePlatform.

Borrowing options and details

There are 2 ways to borrow from our physical collection:

  • Our librarians choose for you — we send a batch of physical audiobooks once a term, based on the information you provide when you register for the service

  • You choose titles from our lending catalogue as you need them.

Our service is free, but you pay return costs

It's free to borrow physical audiobooks from us. It's also free to borrow eBooks and eAudios from Wheelers using the Print Disabilities Service ePlatform.

It's free to request renewals on your physical items.

Lost or badly damaged material may be charged for.

We pay the cost of sending audiobooks to you, but your school pays the cost of returning them to us in Wellington. You can use CourierPost special Services to Schools' rates to do this.

Return books using CourierPost special rates

Number of items you can borrow

There's no limit to the number of physical items you borrow at a time (but remember you'll need to pay to post them back).

Students may borrow up to 2 items at a time from our Wheelers ePlatform.

Length of issue and how to renew

Physical items are issued for the school term, but students can take items home over the holidays without needing to renew them. Email us the titles of items that you want to renew for longer: audiobook.request@dia.govt.nz.

eBooks and eAudios are issued for 2 weeks, then they will expire and automatically return to the library. If you haven't finished a book by that time, you can immediately reborrow it, as long as it hasn't been reserved by someone else. You can return eBooks and eAudios early.

How to borrow

To access our resources, your school must be registered. We require one person from the school to request and manage the loans.

How to borrow from us

Resources for further support

Here are some organisations that offer support to the print-disabled.

Adults with a print disability

The Print Disabilities Service also lends audiobooks to adults through participating public libraries.

Find out more: Print Disabilities Collection.

Any questions?

Contact us if you have any questions about the resources available for students who struggle to use print. We're always happy to hear from you.