Hrvatska knjižnica za slijepe — Croatia's National Accessible-Format Library for Blind and Print-Disabled Readers

The Croatian Library for the Blind (Hrvatska knjižnica za slijepe) was founded in 1965 within the Croatian Association of the Blind and became an independent cultural institution in 2000. It is a special library under the Ministry of Culture and Media and acts as Croatia's focal point for accessible-format production and distribution, taking part in IFLA's Libraries Serving Print Disabled People section and the Accessible Books Consortium platform.
It produces and lends audiobooks (MP3 and DAISY), Braille, DAISY XML and EPUB, runs its own print shop (since 1969) and audio studio (since 1970), and offers an online e-catalogue for downloads. A 2020 account published by Booksa reports 1,249 active members, 45,085 items borrowed (about 36 titles per reader), 4,118 audiobooks and 2,412 Braille books in the collection, 154 new audio titles produced in the year (1,731 hours of recording) and 77 magazine issues per year in accessible formats. The library employs four blind staff and one deaf-blind staff member in editorial and library roles.
Evidence caveat: the figures are self-reported output and circulation data for one year; no independent evaluation of reading outcomes or of reach among the estimated blind and print-disabled population was found. The same source frames the institution as caught between potential and limitations, so it is best read as a well-established national service model rather than a proven-impact intervention.

Read the full analysis: https://daisy.org/about-us/membership/associate-members/croatian-library-for-the-blind/