For more information, contact Nancy Alcorn, Assistant Director of the Newburyport (Mass.) Public Library
A more detailed article written by Nancy Alcorn can be read in the Jan/Feb 2003 issue of Public Libraries magazine. You can receive a free subscription to Public Libraries magazine by joining PLA, the Public Libraries Association.
The Newburyport (Mass.) Public Library used LSTA grant funds and a two-year, $20,000 Serving People with Disabilities grant to provide assistive computer hardware and software for visually impaired and blind users who require specialized library services.
First year funding was allocated for the purchase of two fully networked Pentium IV computer workstations with scanners attached and loaded with the OpenBook scanning software text reader, which reads text aloud. Each workstation also has the MAGic screen magnification program and the JAWS synthesized speech program, which can read anything aloud, allowing patrons to receive and send e-mail, scan headlines of daily newspapers, and visit Web sites. The adaptive computers have large print keyboards and nineteen-inch monitors. The workstations have both speakers and headphones, and print jobs spool to a networked printer within the library's technology center. The library has also purchased a video magnifier (CCTV) with a portable, height-adjustable table that resides in the library's reading room as well as additional audiobooks, audio described and closed-captioned videos, and large print reference materials.