Clinton Township

Library for the Blind opens in Clinton-Macomb library

By Nico Rubello
C & G Staff Writer

» Click on image to view full size « Photo by Nico Rubello The library for the blind moved to the first floor of the Clinton-Macomb Public Library last month. Photo by Nico Rubello The library for the blind moved to the first floor of the Clinton-Macomb Public Library last month. Photo by Nico Rubello Sharon Lotoczky trains library patrons in how to use magnifying equipment and computers equipped with JAWS screen-reading software at the Macomb Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped in Clinton Township. Photo by Nico Rubello Sharon Lotoczky trains library patrons in how to use magnifying equipment and computers equipped with JAWS screen-reading software at the Macomb Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped in Clinton Township.

CLINTON TOWNSHIP — For roughly four decades, Phyllis Gramza stocked her home library with hundreds of books, hoping she would get to spend her retirement reading.

That was up until several years ago, when an age-related degenerative eye condition known as macular degeneration set in and began to significantly distort her vision. The condition changed everything about how the 76-year-old Warren resident consumed literature, and information in general.

“If I want (to vote in) an election, for example, I have to listen to the radio more than watch TV or read (print) materials, because I have to make up my mind somehow. I have to have information,” she said. “In the end, information is the key for any intelligent person. If you don’t have information, or you are hindered in some way from getting information, you’re less of a participant.”

In January, the Macomb Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped opened at its new home at the Clinton-Macomb Public Library in Clinton Township.

Previously, library services for the physically handicapped were provided through the former Macomb County Library. The materials were then provided during the interim through the Michigan Library for the Blind in Lansing, while shelves were added and the library materials were transferred to the new location.

The Library for the Blind provides large-print books, digital audio books and players, narrated movies, and equipment for enlarging text and printing Braille materials to about 870 Macomb County residents with a visual or physical handicap, such as not being able to hold a book. Materials are mailed out free of charge.

“People who use (the Library for the Blind) feel like they’re still part of society,” Gramza said.

The room, formerly the CMPL gift shop, was dedicated in honor of Peg Lamont, the first sub-regional librarian in charge of the Macomb Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, during a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Feb. 6. Various local and state officials from Macomb County attended the ceremony.

There was very little cost to converting the room, said CMPL community relations specialist Jamie Morris.

The idea to move the library under the guise of the CMPL first came from Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel’s office in March 2011, said CMPL Director Larry Neal.

In May, the CMPL Board of Trustees approved a 10-year contract, in which the CMPL will house the library and the county would continue to fund its operations, including staff pay. The Macomb County Board of Commissioners approved the deal in August.

Library officials assured, however, that the move would bear no added cost to local taxpayers.

Anne Mandel is serving as the new director of the Macomb Library for the Blind sub-region.

Users must apply to access the center, Morris said. Applications, which require the applicant to provide a doctor’s note proving that they are visually impaired, can be picked up and submitted through the library, online or through the mail.

Neal said he supports the Library for the Blind’s goal of ensuring every resident has access to the information they want. By making these materials available for free on demand, the library gives back some of the independence a person loses when they lose their eyesight, he said.

As a computer trainer for the new Library for the Blind, Sharon Lotoczky will teach new users how to operate the center’s magnifiers and computers, which read out words on the screen. The training sessions will run in 10-week increments, with the next series beginning in March.

Lotoczky, who suffers from low vision, is an avid reader.

“I’m not a fast Braille user, so everything that I read is on the digital tapes,” she said, adding that the quality of the digital recordings is better than the old tape cassettes. “What’s really cool about it is, you get to keep up with everybody else. I’ve joined book clubs … with other people who can see, and I can keep up with them.”

The Library for the Blind will be open the same hours as the CMPL: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 1-6 p.m. on Sundays from September through May.

For more information about the Macomb Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped and its services, call (586) 286-1580 or visit www.cmpl.org/mlbph.

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Nico Rubello at nrubello@candgnews.com or at (586)279-1118.