Shoalhaven City Council’s Nowra Library has purchased a new Smartview video magnifier, which allows vision impaired people to read, fill out forms or write letters with greater ease. Shoalhaven City Mayor, Councillor Greg Watson, said the equipment will help all people in Shoalhaven City who have some form of vision impairment.
“Council recognised that people with a vision impairment require an easy to use system that will give them access to the wonderful world of ideas and imagination in our library,” Mayor Watson said. “This new Smartview video magnifier will allow people to view books, images and other documents with ease.”
The new Smartview magnifier uses text and images in a printed document and displays the magnified image on a 19” colour screen. The image can be enlarged by up to
62 times, so there is no print too small to be easily seen using the machine.
The user places the printed document or book face up on a movable tray. The page image is then displayed on the screen and the operator can select the appropriate magnification. After locating the correct place on the document, the user can then read across and down the page by moving the tray horizontally or vertically.
The Smartview magnifier can also display the text in different reading backgrounds, such as black on yellow or white on green. There is also a control for brightness. Shoalhaven City libraries also have many audio CDs, books on CD and other materials that can be used by people with vision impairment.
For further information contact Shoalhaven’s Library and Community Services Manager, Noela Lim, on (02) 4429 3702.
