Library for blind, visually impaired people updates its technology

From the Detroit News:

PONTIAC, Mich. -- The Oakland County Library for the Visually and Physically Impaired has dramatically improved Dennis Opoka's cooking (pictured).

The 60-year-old from Royal Oak rode the bus to the library two times a month for free Internet classes on computers equipped with audio readback, designed for blind Web surfers like him. He soon found online recipes -- for stews, chilis, coffeecake -- printed them out on a Braille printer, and whipped up the concoctions with his wife.

"That's the nice thing about computers for a blind person," Opoka said. "It just opens up a whole new world for us."

The library, hidden in a corner of the county courthouse building, is a well-kept secret. Too well. But technological changes are afoot that will likely draw more patrons through its doors.

Its computer lab is equipped with the latest software for the visually impaired, including a screen-reading program for e-mail, word processing and Internet surfing. A massive printer prints out documents in Braille and large print.

And with a $20,000 grant recently awarded by the Edward T. and Ellen K. Dryer Foundation, the library will be able to maintain and update its computers.

A previous grant in 2007 from the same foundation, in the amount of $26,000, was used to purchase the equipment.

"We got money to keep that lab, to keep it current, and expand it for years to come," said Laura Mancini, library services director.

Despite its 3,100 registered patrons, library staff suspect more could benefit from the free services -- which include mailings of books on tape in 72,000 titles -- since 10 percent of the general U.S. population has some type of visual impairment. The county's population is 1.2 million.

"We know that that's a small percentage of the blind community in Oakland County," said Mancini.

The books on tape are also getting a technological face-lift.

The Library of Congress is transferring its cassette collections at all libraries to digital format, to eventually phase out the cassettes entirely. This will enable readers to skip chapters with more ease, Mancini said.

She said 394 patrons have already signed up for the new digital players, which will also be mailed for free, in place of cassette players.

County residents who have been certified as having a visual or physical disability -- usually by a medical professional -- are qualified to sign up for membership.

The library is funded primarily by federal funds.