Imagine your favorite thing about the library. Is it books? Magazines? Using the public computers? Now imagine your frustration if your aging eyes could no longer read the standard print in most books or if you used a wheelchair and the public computer tables were too low for you to fit your wheelchair under.
Libraries are gateways to information and ideas. At MCPL we are committed to offering all Montgomery County residents free and equal access to our services and resources. We recognize that things like small print and old, inhospitable buildings and furniture can act as barriers to service for people who have disabilities. We’d like to share with you a few of the ways we are breaking those barriers down.
In this post, we’ll focus on the fine print, so to speak.
Many books, newspapers, and magazines have small print that can be difficult, or impossible, to read. Even those of us lucky enough to enjoy 20/20 vision as youngsters will probably benefit from alternative reading options as we age, because our eyesight tends to change in ways that can make it difficult to read the standard size text in printed materials. Large print books, audiobooks, e-books, and E-magazines can be good options when standard print is too small to decipher.
Large print books feature type significantly larger than standard type, which makes for much easier reading. The MCPL large print book collection includes thousands of fiction and nonfiction titles, including bestsellers and award winners.
Standard print on left, large print on right, of the same text from the book Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie
For those who like to read print books and magazines on a tablet, computer, or phone, we have downloadable e-books and e-magazines, many of which have text and images that can be enlarged.
If you come to the library to use a public computer and need to be able to slide your wheelchair under the table, or find the screen images too small to see clearly, or you want to magnify printed text you already have in hand, we’ve got you covered!
Each branch has a public Assistive Technology Workstation that features a height-adjustable table, a desktop magnifier that reads printed text aloud, and a computer with assistive technologies, including screen reading and magnification software. These features provide easier computer access for people who have low vision, are blind, have a reading disability, or use a wheelchair.
