Instructional Resource Center (IRC)

Established in 1991, The Maryland School for the Blind's Instructional Resource Center (IRC) is the statewide repository for braille and large print textbooks for blind and visually impaired students attending public and private schools throughout Maryland. The vision of the IRC is that students with visual impairments in Maryland receive their instructional materials at the same time as their sighted peers.

The IRC also maintains a braille production facility to produce needed braille textbooks that are not available from another source.  For requested books not currently available in inventory, the IRC handles searching, ordering and shipping of materials, including books on tape, for students statewide.
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For more information about the IRC contact:
Lisa Wright, Interim Director of Instructional Resource Center
410.444.5000 ext. 1226      lisawr@mdschblind.org

About Braille & Large Print

Braille is a tactile reading system used to present text to a reader who has a visual impairment.

The system is based on a cell of six raised dots providing for 64 possible combinations. The dots that comprise the cells are dome-shaped and are about one sixth, or 16 thousandths (.016) of an inch high. The cells are spaced nearly one tenth (.09) inch apart and each takes up one quarter inch (.25) of horizontal line space. Braille lines are spaced four tenths (.4) of an inch apart, providing about two and one half lines per inch.

For many individuals with visual impairments, braille is their primary method of communication. It may take some students several years to master braille.

Click here for a printable braille card
Click here to email your mailing address for a tactile braille card(s) with a message to decode or contact: Casey Joyce, Development Specialist at
410.319.1207     caseyj@mdschblind.org

The Library of Congress has conceded to begin the word braille with lowercase b when used in any context other than a title or as a name. Therefore, to maintain uniformity within this program, The Maryland School for the Blind now uses the lowercase b on the word "braille" in all written material pertaining to the braille literacy, unless the word is part of a title or indicates a name.