ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Gov. Mark Dayton has proclaimed Thursday Minnesota Talking Book Awareness Day.

March 3 marks the 80th anniversary of the Pratt-Smoot Act that established the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped Talking Book Program.

Since 1933, the Minnesota Braille and Talking Book Library in the Minnesota Department of Education has provided statewide library services to Minnesotans with a visual or physical disability.

Minnesotans who have difficulty reading printed material because of blindness or a physical handicap may be eligible to participate in the audio and braille books program. By law, U.S. military veterans are given priority.

(© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)