St. Elmo Library District given equipment by state

Illinois Secretary of State and State Librarian Jesse While has announced that 40 Illinois public libraries and community college learning resource centers will receive equipment to enhance Internet access for patrons with visual or physical impairments by allowing them to download audio books.
Those recipients include the St. Elmo Public Library District.
“Many Illinois public libraries provide services for patrons who have visual or physical limitations that make it difficult to read regular printed materials,” White said.
“I am pleased to be able to provide this equipment that will enable those library users to download audio books through the Internet.”
The equipment consists of at least 12 Kindle 4 E-readers, five digital cartridges and five USB cables.
The cartridges and cables will help libraries train and assist print-disabled patrons to download audio books from the library through the Braille and Audio Recording Download (BARD) system.
The Kindle 4 E-readers have a text-to-speech capability and include audio menus.
While visually-impaired patrons have priority access to the Kindle E-readers, they may also be used by other patrons at the library’s discretion.
Each of the 40 recipients received an “Eliminate the Digital Divide Program” grant last year from the Illinois State Library through a program operated by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.
White said that print-disabled patrons wanting to use the new equipment must be enrolled in the Illinois State Library Talking Book and Braille program and can do so by logging on to www.ilbph.org or calling 1-800-665-5576, option 5.