A Talking Library For The Blind

Farook College near Kozhikode, Kerala, has installed a Digital Talking Book Library at their library for the benefit of visually challenged students and aptly named it 'Insight'.

'Insight' helps 32 blind students at the college to delve into the vast world of books without the help of Braille. The library has four computers to help such students.

The facility consists of a few computers, a scanner and a set of speakers and also headphones. Through voice prompts it also helps the user operate the computer.

"Visually challenged students find it very useful. They spend hours at these machines reading books and periodicals," said M. Ayub, the librarian.

"Its operation is simple. You have to just scan the pages you want to read. The computer will convert it into sound bytes. The students have learned to operate the system and they are doing it without help from others," he added.

"We are using the software Jaws and Kurzweil to operate these systems," says Habeeb C., a guest lecturer and a former student of the college, as he operates the system with astonishing ease. He is visually challenged.

He has played a key role in encouraging the authorities to install the facility. A brilliant student and a winner of scholarship from the Foundation for Academic Excellence and Access (FAEA), Habeeb had been familiar with this system from his student days.

The talking library has also come in for praise from a UGC review committee team, which recently visited the college.

"They said they haven't come across such a facility in any other arts and science college in the country," said the librarian.

The college is also planning to provide more help to the visually challenged.

"We are planning to bring out compact discs of lectures and to install a printer which can print scanned materials in Braille. The printer is costly and it has to be imported," adds Ayub.

Farook College, affiliated to Calicut University, is run by the Rousathul Uloom Association.