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12/01/2005: "Magnifier Helps Reading"

(Librarian Heidi Lewis demonstrates the use of the magnifier)

The San Juan Island Library has an electronic magnifier available to help people with low vision to read. This isn't a hand held magnifying glass, but a machine that enlarges the image of a printed page so that individual letters may be up to two inches in size.

The magnifier machine is easy to learn to use, and library staff are on hand to help people wishing to learn. The machine is in the library through a partnership with San Juan Island Senior Services.. "I was surprised at how easy it was to learn to use the magnifier," said Beth Helstien, outreach coordinator for the library. "The control buttons and levers are easy to find and manipulate. This machine will allow a lot of people with low vision, who might not be able otherwise, to read. The library is really pleased that we can cooperate with Senior Services to provide this opportunity." Like using binoculars, all images are magnified equally, including any movement so using the magnifier can take some getting used to.

Benefits of the Aladdin Rainbow magnifier are that it helps people who have low vision or who are "legally blind" to read correspondence, write checks, view photographs, read magazines and newspapers and view three dimensional objects. It can enlarge text up to two inches. Several contrast settings are available that make the machine comfortable for people with a variety of vision problems. The magnifier is available in the quiet room in the library where users can sit comfortably and in relative privacy.

In addition to its collections of books, audio books and videos to loan, the library also provides computers for the public to use for email, Internet searching, and working in word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations. Library computers offer software to help new computer users learn to type and use a keyboard, and guides, called tutorials, for learning to use the computers mouse. A computer is available for those with special needs, featuring a magnifier and foreign languages.

Library hours are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10 AM to 6 PM, Tuesday and Thursday from 10 AM to 8 PM, Saturday from 10 AM to 5 PM and Sunday from 1 PM to 5 PM. Library cards are free to island residents with proof of residency.