Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Library accessibility (self.Blind)
submitted by jdn0023
Hey everyone! I work at my city's public library and was wondering if there were any small-scale changes I could propose to make things more accessible for visually impaired people. We have a decent audiobook selection (both physically and digitally) but I was trying to think of other ways to be generally more accessible. I thought of adding braille to our shelf signage, but then the issue would be locating materials on the actual shelves. We have a pretty powerful magnifying device in our computer lab, but it's super outdated, scary to use, and hasn't gotten any traffic since I've been here.
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Anyway, I would love to make a little change, so let me know if you have any good ideas :) thanks!
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Anyway, I would love to make a little change, so let me know if you have any good ideas :) thanks!
jrs12 3 points 4y ago
What does your large print area look like?
jdn0023 [OP] 1 points 4y ago
Fairly decent. could definitely have more (it tends to be older lady books and not the same range as the rest of the collection).
jrs12 1 points 4y ago
This might be a more expensive option, but some people really still love a physical copy of a book and get uber excited for large print. The newer CCTV is an excellent option though too.
-shacklebolt- 2 points 4y ago
Braille labels on shelves probably aren't useful, as many low vision patrons will not have have braille skills, and those that do may not be able to read the book titles anyways.
Having a more modern CCTV magnifier system available would definitely be a plus, especially if you make an effort to inform people that it exists!
Making patrons aware of NLS services https://www.loc.gov/nls/ and helping them (especially older people who may not identify as "blind" but meet the criteria to receive NLS services) sign up is also an idea. There's a lot of qualified people in the US who aren't receiving this great service. People who are registered with NLS can also receive https://nfb.org/nfbnewsline free of charge.
Having a more modern CCTV magnifier system available would definitely be a plus, especially if you make an effort to inform people that it exists!
Making patrons aware of NLS services https://www.loc.gov/nls/ and helping them (especially older people who may not identify as "blind" but meet the criteria to receive NLS services) sign up is also an idea. There's a lot of qualified people in the US who aren't receiving this great service. People who are registered with NLS can also receive https://nfb.org/nfbnewsline free of charge.
Fange_Strellow 2 points 4y ago
Do you have any blind visitors? Get their input, since they’d be the ones impacted.
jdn0023 [OP] 1 points 4y ago
Not sure how I'd approach, but I agree that this is ideal. I've started thinking about our computer lab and we don't have any accessible computers. I may try and propose JAWS for one of the stations.
bradley22 3 points 4y ago
I'd recommend NVDA. It's completely free and could be put on all the stations. It doesn't have to be turned on every time the computer starts (you can change this by going to NVDA menu/preferences/settings then going to general then tabbing six times and unchecking the box if it's not already unchecked.)
jdn0023 [OP] 1 points 4y ago
Wow, that's an incredible idea! I'm going to propose this for sure.
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