Library makes effort to spread the word on books for blind, physically handicapped

Retired telephone company employee Fred Dollin, of Allsion Park, volunteers his time as a "Pioneer," a group that repairs the cassette players for the Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped in Pittsburgh's Oakland section. Behind Dollin is volunteer Bill Adams.

Bins of returned books on tape wait to be restocked at the Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. About 2,000 books a day go out to the library's patrons. The library has more than 50,000 books on a variety of subjects and by various authors.

With his dog, Sansha, by his side, Hunter McGowan, 9, enjoys a book on tape from the Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped at his home in North Huntingdon Township.

The Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped in Pittsburgh's Oakland section is looking for a lot more readers.

With more than 50,000 books on audio tapes and 10,000 in large print, they are capable of serving many more patrons than the 10,000 who use their free services.

"We serve 36 counties in western Pennsylvania, and we get a lot of coverage in Allegheny County," said LBPH Director Kathleen Kappel. "But we're trying to get the word out in other areas so that people know what we do."

They take their mobile unit to schools to reach students who could benefit from their services, and to nursing homes, senior centers, churches and health education events to find the qualifying older population, who are the majority of their patrons.

"The fastest growing age group is between 80 and 89," Kappel said.

The LBPH in Pittsburgh was one of the original 19 libraries contracted by the National Library Service's Division for the Blind. But it was way ahead of its time. While it wasn't until the 1930s that Congress passed an act to appropriate money for reading services for the blind, two decades earlier, the LBPH had Braille books that were popular with students at the Western Pennsylvania School For Blind Children.

The LBPH was located at the Carnegie Library's Allegheny Regional Branch on Pittsburgh's North Side until the 1960s, when it was moved to its present location on Baum Boulevard. Kappel has been there since 1973.

"I was at Pitt and I was going to go into medicine, but I changed to speech pathology and audiology, and came here as a book selector who matched books with readers," she said. "I absolutely fell in love with doing this, and I ended up getting a master's degree in library science, and I've been here ever since. I've had the pleasure of doing almost every job here, and it's all been very interesting to watch the changes in the program."

When she first started, many readers were youngsters from residential schools for the blind. Some lost their sight from rubella, too little oxygen at birth and other conditions that have better medical treatment today.

"There were conditions that through the years were eradicated," Kappel said. "Now we're seeing young people with multiple handicaps, who may not have survived before."

Another difference, she said, is the rising number of people who, because of the increased obesity in the country, are developing Type 2 diabetes and the loss of vision that may come with it.

The library also serves readers who are physically impaired from arthritis, Parkinson's disease, or other conditions that make it difficult to hold a book or turn pages. Movies with descriptive narrations are also available.

What hasn't changed is what people like to read.

"They want to read the same things as sighted people read," Kappel said. "They like the best sellers, mysteries, westerns, romances, historical novels, and futuristic novels. I always tell people that just because you can't see, why would you want to hear anything different than anyone else wants to read?"

The National Library Service provides books and magazines on tape to its affiliated libraries. Publications of national interest are usually read by paid professionals and sometimes celebrities.

"We had one woman who told us that she didn't care what we sent her, as long as it was read by Alexander Scorby," Kappel said. "She said that to her, he sounded like the voice of God."

Patrons can request regional books that aren't recorded for national distribution but are read by local volunteers.

Janet Palka, of Collier Township, recorded "The Colorful Tales of the Blue and White," the story of Penn State football.

"I'm a graduate of PSU and a football fan, so I was interested in reading that book," she said.

Palka, a biology professor at Community College of Allegheny County, has been a volunteer reader since May.

She also enjoyed reading Jack Bogut's "Big Sky Cafe and Other Schools I Attended," and some mysteries by local authors.

Anne Robb, of Squirrel Hill, has been involved in theater and has taught drama. In recent times she recorded "Play It Again, Spam," a mystery comedy that takes place in Pennsylvania Dutch country.

"It's a very cute book, part of a whole series, and it's been picked up by the Library of Congress," she said.

Robb also read a lengthy novel about Mozart's mother, and the popular "Coal Run" by Tawni O'Dell.

Volunteer Robert Isenberg, 25, of Polish Hill, in Pittsburgh, is an actor who writes about theater. He recently finished "The French Invasion of Western Pennsylvania."

"It was all about Washington and the French and Indian War," he said. "It was quality scholarship and remarkably good."

He can't say the same about a regional book of poetry.

"It's the worst writing that I ever encountered, and every time I pick it up, I want to cry," he said.

But somebody will want to read it because everyone has different tastes.

Sandra Spade, of Export, likes romances, mysteries and westerns, and an occasional biography in large print books and audio tapes. She heard about the library four years ago when diabetes impacted her vision.

"I've been an avid reader all my life," she said. "I grew up in the Greensburg Salem School District, and they had a bookmobile in the 1970s. I would come out with at least five books, and I just about lived at the library in Greensburg. I read every day, and it kills me if I can't read a book."

Elizabeth Roach, of Latrobe, a patron for more than five years, enjoys mysteries, Louis L'Amour's westerns, and books by Stephen King and Dean Koontz.

"I listen to five books a week, and that's how many I read when I could read," she said.

Roach lived in California for a number of years and returned to the area when her mother lost her sight to diabetes and needed her care.

"I have macular degeneration and have lost the center of my sight when I look ahead," she said. "I have peripheral vision but it gets progressively worse. This program has been a blessing for me. You don't ever lose your love for books. You just lose your ability to read them."

Margaret Reynolds, of Ligonier, also has macular degeneration. She gets about 10 books a month, and likes mysteries and history.

"My mother was always a reader, so she got me into reading," she said. "I always read books to my kids, too."

Barbara Gensler, of West Newton, has been using the library services for nearly five years.

"I've been an avid reader all my life and I like to read anything, mostly true stories," she said. "I just read David Baldacci's 'The Winner' and it was so good."

Gensler subscribes to recorded magazines and appreciates sound signals that enable her to skip ahead, for instance, when recipes are being read.

"It's wonderful when you don't want to hear a certain segment and you can hit fast forward," she said.

Patti McGowan, of North Huntingdon, orders books for her son, Hunter, 9, who has vision and hearing impairments.

"As a young adult, he could be completely blind," McGowan said.

Hunter attends the DePaul School for Hearing and Speech, and the Oral School for the Deaf, in Pittsburgh.

"He doesn't read independently yet, but he's learning Braille and he loves to be read to," she said. "He just loves stories about Clifford, the big red dog, and information about the presidents and about wars. He's a very bright child."

Hunter usually gets three books twice a month.

The staff at LBPH send out as many books as patrons request, and as often as they want. The selections are shipped in special packaging with free return mail.

Sometimes tape players are sent back in need of repairs, which are done by volunteers from the Telephone Pioneers, a group of telephone company retirees. Ed Carlin, 84, of McCandless, has been volunteering for 23 years.

"The beauty of the work is that they are the same kind of cassette players with the same kind of problems," he said. "The most common repair is to the rubber parts and friction surfaces."

Fred Dollin, of Allison Park, one of a dozen repair volunteers, has cleaned many machines in the past eight years.

"Some are unbelievably filthy," he said. "We pull out dog and cat hair, cookie crumbs, and I don't know what else that manages to get into the machines. People spill coffee on them and we run into a fair number with talcum powder in them."

In November 2004, the LBPH won the Marrietta Y. King and Alberta Walden Still Diversity Award from the Library Service for Older Adults Task Force of the Pennsylvania Library Association. The award is given for outreach programs that benefit minority or socially disadvantaged populations whose visual or physical disabilities make reading difficult.

For information about the Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, call 800-242-0586, or visit www.carnegielibrary.org/lbph. Its mobile unit will be at the Senior Citizens Expo, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 14, at the Four Points Sheraton, near Greensburg.

Maryann Gogniat Eidemiller is a Greensburg freelance writer.