A Shropshire first – a new task for a useful gadget
Blind and partially-sighted people will soon be able to choose the talking books they’d like to read themselves, without having to rely on any help.
This exciting new project will be piloted in Bridgnorth Library during Make a Noise in Libraries Fortnight from Monday 6 June to Sunday 19 June 2011.
This new independence owes itself to an audio labeller called a PenFriend, a listening device originally developed by the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) for labelling items such as tins in cupboards or CD collections.
Now being put to a new task, helpful volunteers have been busy recording the information on the cover of talking books onto an audio label, which is replayed when tapped with the PenFriend.
Because hearing problems often accompany sight-loss, especially in older people, the library has a ‘male’ and a ‘female’ PenFriend to cater for different hearing ranges.
This project has the approval of the RNIB and is currently being tested by members of the local Macular Degeneration Group.
Councillor Mike Owen, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for culture, said:
“It’s fantastic to see that this existing technology is being put to good use with the aim of giving visually-impaired people the ability to choose books they would like to borrow – something most people take for granted.
“I’m confident it will be a huge success.”
Christian Lea, a Shropshire Councillor for Bridgnorth East and Astley Abbotts, said:
“The PenFriend audio labeller will be very much appreciated by local blind and partially-sighted people when they visit the library, as it will help them to retain their independence when choosing a talking book. I am particularly pleased to hear that the project is being piloted at Bridgnorth Library, and I hope that it proves to be a success.”
John Hurst-Knight, a Shropshire Councillor for Bridgnorth West and Tasley, and chairman of Friends of Bridgnorth Library, said:
“Members of Friends of Bridgnorth Library have been helping staff to get this service available. This will hopefully enable everyone to make full use of the various services the library has to offer.”
Further information
The PenFriend was launched by the RNIB in 2009 in conjunction with the manufacturers Mantra Lingua, who had originally used a talking pen device with its children’s books and approached the RNIB to see whether it would be useful for vision-impaired children. The RNIB saw much wider uses for it and it was marketed as an audio labeller at its launch.
