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IMCPL Branches Obtain Magnifiers to Assist Patrons With Visual Disabilities

Library News & Announcements RSS Feed May 9, 2008

Hand-held digital magnifier
Hand-held digital magnifier

As part of a grant from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust, the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library has obtained hand-held digital magnifiers at 16 library locations to help patrons with visual disabilities read printed materials.

The new portable devices are lightweight and incorporate a four-inch anti-glare viewing screen with adjustable magnification. The magnifiers also feature a range of viewing modes and freeze-frame control for temporary pictures.

Patrons with a valid IMCPL library card must sign a user agreement in order to check out a magnifier for a four-hour time period for use within the library. Patrons 17 years of age and under must have parental or guardian consent to check out the magnifier.

Magnifiers are available at the following IMCPL branch locations: College Avenue, Decatur, Eagle, East Thirty-Eighth Street, Franklin Road, Glendale, Haughville, Irvington, Lawrence, Nora, Pike, Shelby, Southport, Warren and Wayne, as well as Central Library downtown.

Another piece of assistive technology, the magnicam, is available at IMCPL for patrons to check out for use at home. The magnicam, roughly the size of a computer mouse, can be plugged into the television to magnify what appears on the television screen.

Eight magnicams are available at IMCPL, four at Central Library and four at the Glendale Branch. In addition to being able to check out a magnicam at one of these locations, library cardholders also may place a request for a magnicam to be delivered to their home branch through the IMCPL website. There is a 21-day loan period for a magnicam.

Assistive technology workstations are available at Central Library and the Glendale Branch, offering for patrons such features as magnification software, screen reading software and a video magnifier for printed materials. The workstations include an advanced document scanning/reading system and a large print keyboard.