By Don Urquhart, Times-Chronicle
For many people reading is a lifelong pleasure but it can become more difficult as we age. The need for reading glasses or other eye problems associated with aging like cataracts and glaucoma can impinge upon the joy of reading.
But there is a range of solutions that can compensate for these obstacles that seniors and others may encounter. These include large print books, audiobooks, and e-books.
Joanne Schaffrick, assistant community librarian at the Osoyoos Library says that while the library is one of the smaller branches within the 29-branch Okanagan Regional Library system it has a large selection and high turnover of books.
“We try to keep a large selection and we try to keep them moving frequently so that they’re not stagnant and sitting here,” she says.
She adds that there are hundreds of large print books that the local branch has access to by virtue of the fact it can tap the 28 other branches. Because of our access to different branches that all have large print books we get deliveries twice a week so they come in fairly quickly.
The large print books also cover a whole spectrum of genres she says, including non-fiction, biographies, westerns (which are very popular and turnover rapidly) and romance is big too. “And a lot of popular authors have large print books which many people don’t know about,” Schaffrick adds.
She also adds that large print books aren’t just utilized by seniors. It can be people with sight disabilities, those who dislike reading glasses and some who just enjoy reading larger print. These books are also the same as regular print books and are not abridged, she notes.
One unique service that the library offers through the assistance of volunteers is a book delivery service once a month for long-term care residents at Mariposa Gardens. Schaffrick explains that for those residents who want the service they will have a form filled out detailing their needs. What genres they like or don’t like, how many books a month they would like, etc. Currently, 13 residents are utilizing the service.
“We choose for them and we have a record of all the books they’ve read before so we try not to duplicate anything and we just keep going on that. We try to check back with them once a year to see if their needs have changed or they don’t like this author anymore and so on. They also send notes with the books, like ‘don’t send me this author anymore’, or ‘I really liked this one’.”
Audiobooks are also available but only come in Compact Disc (CD) format. These come in both abridged and unabridged formats because larger books can take up to 20 CDs. Abridged this still comes to around 12 CDs. Schaffrick says these are great for travelling or driving to the coast for instance.
Many seniors have also shifted to using e-readers or tablets, with librarians often helping with information on how to set up their devices, download the Libby app and how to then borrow e-books or e-audio.
The benefits of using these electronic platforms include the ability to customize the font size as well as change the brightness of the ‘page’. Another benefit is the ability to simply download books from the library website using the freely downloadable Libby app.
