The Changchun University Braille Library, in the city of Changchun, Jilin province, is now providing thousands of books in Braille along with related facilities to make reading more convenient for the visually impaired who cannot easily deal with ordinary books.

The library provides multi-function electronic typoscopes or low- vision readers, who can put the book beneath the lens and enlarge the font on the screen to an appropriate size, using a hand controller, to make the words clearer.

The school's librarians have gained the praise of students with disabilities who find reading this way much more comfortable and handy, with one of the frequent visitors, Wang, a freshman in special education, who suffers from impaired vision noting, "Perhaps I personally cherish reading more because it is not that easy."

Wang goes on to say, "Before I got to college I used to use a magnifying glass to read and often got back pains from reading that way. Now, luckily, the university is providing advanced equipment such as electronic typoscopes, which makes reading much easier for me," and then explains that he can adjust the display screen with white characters on a black background.

The library has provided other help such as more spacious reading spaces for those who are hungry for knowledge and the head librarian, Lu Yiguang, concludes, "These visually-impaired students have a desire to read and we hope they can enjoy the pleasure of reading here."

Changchun Braille Library’s Internet reading machines. [Photo by Tian Tian/Xinhua]

Low-vision readers using electronic typoscopes. [Photo by Tian Tian/Xinhua]

Xiao Wang shows how to read a book with an electronic typoscope. [Photo by Tian Tian/Xinhua]