NLS BARD Support: Browsing and Downloading Magazines on BARD

If you have ever wished you could browse the magazine covers on display while standing in the grocery checkout line, you may be interested in the treasure trove of magazines available through NLS BARD. Representing an eclectic mix of news and entertainment, the NLS BARD magazine collection offers current and back issues of scores of magazines. You can browse the collection, download an issue here or there to explore, or you can subscribe to magazines you know you love, so you never miss an issue.

One bonus for sports enthusiasts, although not exactly a magazine, are the schedules for National Football, Basketball, Hockey, and Baseball leagues in braille. 

To begin Browsing

On the BARD Main page, navigate to the heading called “FIND MAGAZINES AND OTHER MATERIALS.” (Screen reader users can press the letter h 12 times to get there quickly.)

Below this heading, you can press Enter on the “Most Recent Issues” link.

This takes you to a list including the most recent issue of every magazine ever produced for NLS BARD.  Note that while most of these will be current, some will not.  Sometimes, only one issue of a magazine has been produced by NLS, in which case that single occurrence will show up as the most recent issue.  In other instances, NLS ceased producing a magazine, so that the final issue produced will appear in this list. By jumping from heading to heading, you can browse the wide range of titles and add them to your wish list or download immediately as you would with any title. Note that, if you want to skip past the audio magazines and go directly to those in braille, there’s a link near the top of the page that will let you do that.

Looking at back issues

The next item on the page below Most Recent Issues, is “Magazines listed by title.” This is a combo box, where magazine titles are arranged alphabetically. Open the combo box and arrow down to a title of interest. (If you are looking for a specific periodical, you can press the first letter of its title to go to it more quickly.) When you find the title you want, choose the Go button. Here you will find all issues, in reverse chronological order, which NLS has produced of that periodical.

If a magazine has issues going back more than a year, you will find a link labeled “Older Issues.” Following this link will take you to a page listing all available issues since they first appeared on BARD.

Subscribing

When you select a magazine from the Magazines by title list, there will be a button at the top to Subscribe. If you choose this button, you will be automatically subscribed to the magazine, and new issues will be placed on your Wish List when they arrive.  Conversely, if you have already subscribed to a magazine and change your mind, simply select that magazine by title and there will now be an Unsubscribe button at the top of the page. 

Magazines offer a fertile field of information, fiction, poetry, pop culture, and just plain entertainment. An equivalent collection to that enjoyed by your sighted friends is available for download from NLS BARD.

Happy reading!