Strand Library is among six City of Cape Town libraries that have extended its services to include a new initiative that aims to ensure visually impaired patrons and those struggling with learning disabilities such as dyslexia are able to access their audio books more readily.
The pilot project, a collaboration between the City’s Library Service (LIS) and Tape Aids for the Avid Reader, follows delays with the postal service that had left many of the non-profit’s clients struggling to receive their “talking books”. The new service was initiated in the hopes of alleviating the problem by making facilities inclusive and accessible to patrons.
“This means members of Tape Aids as well as patrons of these libraries will be able to access their talking books without having to wait for it to arrive via the post,” said Mayoral Committee Member for Community Services and Health Councillor Patricia van der Ross.
They will be able to take the CD or log onto the Tape Aids website and download the audio book to their smartphone.
If a patron is not a member of Tape Aids, but a member of the library, they would be able to take the audio books out. Should you not be a member of a City library, staff will assist patrons in joining Tape Aids and/or the library.
Their volunteer narrators and proofreaders throughout South Africa have helped them transform more than 40 000 book titles since 1958, when Tape Aids for the Blind was founded.
In 2012, the migration from cassette-tape format to digital began, and Tape Aids has been doing its utmost to benefit all people visually impaired or otherwise print-disabled, who have conditions such as dyslexia (which affects more than 10% of SA’s population), autism, Parkinson’s or other physical or neurological disorders.
Tape Aids offers a Hear-to-Read Dual Reading Method and Talking Books where audible, visual or tactile (Braille) inputs occur simultaneously.
