By: Ryan Duey
Photo Courtesy of Kansas Talking Books
The State Library of Kansas will bring its ‘Kansas Talking Books’ Roadshow to the Clay Center Carnegie Library on Tuesday, November 4th, from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.
Kansas Talking Books is a free service that provides free library services to all Kansans who may have difficulties reading a book. Michael Lang with Kansas Talking Books explained more about this service.
“We provide accessible reading materials, that’s books and magazines in audio formats and braille formats, as well as playback equipment to anybody in Kansas.”
“This service is for those who have trouble reading a traditional print book, whether that’s a vision impairment, somebody who can’t hold a book, or can’t turn the page.”
“There are a lot of different conditions that qualify. Even somebody who has a reading disability like dyslexia.”
The Roadshow is meant to showcase this specialty service to Kansans. Lang said they hope to see both long-time users and people who may think this service will benefit them at the library.
“This is a great opportunity for us to meet our readers, whom we’ve been serving for years, and help answer any questions that they might have.”
“We also want to see people in the community who can utilize the services. If there’s a person that you know who is dealing with vision loss, is having trouble reading books, we want to meet them, explain the service, and show them how downloading a book works.”
“Also, anybody who just wants to learn a little bit more about Braille or accessible reading services, we’d like to see them too.”
The audio equipment they use, including their new Talking Books machine, the DA2, which is currently circulating, will be at the library for attendees to see and learn about.
The Roadshow will also visit the Washington City Library from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. that day before heading to Clay Center.
To learn more about the State Library of Kansas and the Kansas Talking Books service, visit the State Library’s website.
