There are many services available with an Airdrie Public Library (APL) card, such as CELA, NNELS and Bookshare.
I know, that was a tragically boring lead with acronyms only a few will know, but sometimes a dull lead can point to something worth knowing.
May is Vision Health month, an initiative from the Canadian Association of Optometrists designed to bring awareness to eye health and preventing vision loss.
According to the association’s website, one in seven Canadians will develop a serious eye disease in their lifetime, yet 75 per cent of vision loss can be prevented or treated with proper care.
Healthy vision, of course, is very important to libraries, as most collections require the use of your eyes.
However, libraries recognize many people face difficulties when it come to accessibility, one of them being vision, so APL offers some very cool services for people with vision impairments.
Which brings us back to the acronyms above.
CELA, the Centre for Equitable Library Services, offers 500,000 items to those who have difficulty reading print due to visual, physical or learning disabilities.
As CELA members, APL has Digital Accessible Information System (DAISY) audiobooks available for loan. Books, magazines and newspapers can also be shipped in or downloaded directly from the CELA website.
An APL membership is required to borrow these items, but you’ll also need to register with CELA, which is a simple process.
NNELS, the National Network of Equitable Library Services, is an online repository of accessible formats for vision-impaired patrons.
A library membership is required, and to access the online collection you’ll need to sign up for an NNELS account through their homepage – again, a simple process.
Then, there’s Bookshare, which offers more than 650,000 downloadable books, textbooks and newspapers.
So, you see – or more importantly, if you have trouble reading print due to visual, physical or learning disabilities – the above is important to know.
For more information on APL’s programs and services, visit airdriepubliclibrary.ca, call 403-948-0600 or stop by and get your free library card.
