Celebrating Hi Vis Fortnight in Libraries

07 Jun 2021 ARCHIVED (over 3 months old) - view latest news

From 7th -20th June High Vis Fortnight, formerly known as "Make a Noise in Libraries" will be celebrating the diversity of reading. This annual event aims to "champion and raise awareness of the range of library services and activities that are available to visually impaired people to access". 

Reading Sights state that "The availability of alternative formats and cultural engagement through libraries is critical to ensuring that people who are blind, or who have sight loss or anything that stops them from using standard print, can access, enjoy and share a diverse range of reading and experiences."

For Hi Vis Fortnight Northumberland Libraries would like to highlight a selection of resources available free to library members:

Large Print Books - Using a font of at least 16 points in size, large print titles are perfect for people who have poor vision. Large print books can be borrowed for free and reserved free in the same way as normal books. 

Audio books, or spoken word books, are available in many titles for adults and children, on CD and MP3 Playaway. They can be loaned for 3 weeks for free to children, concessions and people who are visually impaired.

eBooks and eAudio titles from our digital library BorrowBox.  There are titles available for everyone - adults, young adults and children. This software has a variety of accessibility features such as the ability to change font sizes and speed of reading (with eAudio). More information on the accessibility features of BorrowBox can be found by visiting our accessibility information page.

PressReader allows library members unlimited access to thousands of magazines and newspapers. With over 6,000 publications from over 100 countries in 60+ languages. Reader/Player users can also listen to web content read aloud via a built-in player and text-to-speech functionality.

If you would like more information on any of the resources highlighted or help getting started with our digital library please ask at your local library or email mylibrary@northumberland.gov.uk.