Library:

While the Reading centres have been very useful to the students, there has always been an acute need for a permanent library for the students. Karna Vidya has now set up a permanent Library for the students at Adyar. Past President Rtn. R.Ravi, has provided the library with a place. This library centre, which is centrally located, has seating arrangements, writing tables, storage racks to store cassettes and books, steel cupboard to store valuable books and other material.

This library currently has books both regular and Braille covering both college syllabi and general interest. The library also has audio tapes, CDs, Dubbing machines, recorders and playback machines etc. The library is currently functioning on Saturdays.

The library also acts as an issue and exchange centre besides acting as the administrative office of the entire Karna Vidya project.

Now Karna Vidya has also set up a Computer Centre for the visually handicapped in the Karna Vidya Library premises for training the students in the use of computers.

The various facilities at the Library are as follows:

Audio Cassette Circulation

Karna Vidya buys blank cassettes for recording lessons. This is given to students who are not able to buy the cassettes themselves. The cassettes thus provided for recording lessons are collected at the end of each academic year from the students and kept in Karna Vidya library. As on date we have about 1000 cassettes in our library, both in circulation and in house for the use of our students.

Recording and Dubbing

Karna Vidya coordinates the recording by volunteers at their residence. Karna Vidya also has dubbing services where students bring their own cassettes and their chosen lessons are dubbed from the original cassettes. As on date we have lessons recorded for almost all the subjects in the under graduate and postgraduate levels for the various colleges.

Books Circulation

We also buy books i.e. textbooks and competitive exam books for these students, for their use. These books are lent to the students for their reading sessions/home reading etc. The students return these to the library after use. Some of these books are in Braille. As on date we have about 1000 textbooks of various subjects.

Scribing Services

We also arrange scribes for writing exams for the students for both model and final examinations. Suitable volunteers who are adept at writing Tamil and English at a fast pace write these exams. They reach the various colleges on the particular date and time and write out what they are dictated to by the students. This service of Karna Vidya has been recently added and we have about 50 scribes some of whom are also regular readers giving a helping hand in this service. In some deserving cases, we give travelling charges to the scribes according to their need.

Escort Help

Karna Vidya volunteers also escort students to various libraries to collect material for their research work especially at the M.Phil, and Ph.d courses. The students find this very useful, as they are not in a position to browse the books and collect information. The volunteers act as their eyes and read out the books from which they can collect material.

Drawing and Writing

The volunteers also draw charts and write lessons for B.Ed students and write thesis for M.Phil and PhD students. The students dictate what has to be written to the volunteer and he/she writes as it is said. Corrections if any is done by the guide of the student and again this is re-written by the volunteer.

Computer Centre at Karna Vidya Library:

Loss of vision immediately deprives the visually handicapped to pursue higher studies and reduces their scope of job opportunities. Thus they remain economically backward. What is more disturbing is that even the young visually handicapped have a bleak future. Poverty, lack of proper education facilities and non-availability of Braille books in various subjects make it difficult for Visually handicapped children to complete even school education. The process of globalisation of the economy in India is fast gaining momentum and with introduction of computers, information technology and internet the entire education scenario is fast changing making it increasingly difficult for the visually handicapped students to cope up with the same.

As it is, it was a problem to have access to normal text books and also confront immense problems such as shortage of human readers, lack of Braille books on different subjects, non availability of text books in time and total absence of tactile graphics in various subjects. The information explosion has made it literally impossible for the visually handicapped to keep pace or participate in the competitive environment. But now one can take the help of newly developed assistive devices that are helping the visually handicapped worldwide to make this world a better place to live in. These will help the visually handicapped students to achieve success in higher education, improve their work efficiency and provide better employment opportunities such as Teachers, Professors, Writers, Journalists, Solicitors, Consultants, Call Centre agents, Stenographers, Managers, Administrators, etc. instead of selling lottery tickets or operating telephone booths. Thus they can be independent and self-reliant and learn to live with their visual disability.

Visually Impaired can also learn Computers

With the introduction of JAWS Screen Reading Software, which converts a normal PC into a talking PC, it is possible to train the visually handicapped in computers. All that is needed is a computer with multimedia, Jaws software and other supporting equipment like Text Reading Machine and Braille Printer for providing support of course materials in Braille and access to printed computer manuals, books etc.

The Centre has the infrastructure is designed to provide a support system to make the dream of the visually handicapped students a reality. This vision is to reach out the latest technology and its benefits through the high-tech visual aids and appliances developed worldwide to the doorstep of the Visually handicapped student. This will enable them to cope up with the competitive environment to achieve success in their pursuit for higher education. The unique feature of this programme is the that it will be an integrated and composite technology centre, which would provide a wide range of services to the visually handicapped, low vision and visually handicapped persons all under one roof in Chennai.