Library program struggles to provide services for the blind

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Posted 10:26AM on Monday, September 9, 2002

ATLANTA - Officials close to the Georgia Library for Accessible Services, which provides primary services for the blind and disabled, can point to signs of underfunding and inefficiency. Many of the audio books and Braille materials are stored in a musty and paint-peeling warehouse in the southwest Atlanta building. And only a fraction of people who could benefit from the program use its services. Officials call it an agency that has fallen through the bureaucratic cracks. Despite the library's shabby exterior and limited resources, it continues to offer services for those who need them. "It's been a case of out of sight, out of mind," said Lamar Veatch, director of library services. The Georgia Library for Accessible Services is part of the larger Georgia Public Library Service, which operates all library operations statewide. It has been renamed and moved under different state departments twice since 1996. Officials also say there is no accountability between the main library in Atlanta and its 13 branches on issues such as funding, quality of service and even circulation figures. State reports confirm the problems. The state network is part of a national one created by the Library of Congress to provide free "talking books" on tape, specialized playback equipment for the blind and people who can't hold books and Braille materials. The regional library in Atlanta has been around since the 1930s. The branches were created in the 1970s. The blind and disabled who use the service call it a lifeline. It's a way of staying connected to the world, remaining vital and holding on to a cherished hobby, reading. Mary Kay Rogers said she suffered with depression when she learned she was losing her vision more than a decade ago. Then a single mother in her 40s and an avid reader, she drained the local library in Douglasville of its small collection of large-print books. The library ordered more. Soon, though, even those were too difficult for her to manage. "I was hysterical about it. I was more worried about not being able to read again than driving a car and other more practical things," said Rogers, now 55. "When I put that headset on, all my problems go away." The state's libraries have been functioning on virtually the same funding for nearly 12 years. At the same time, the number of people eligible for the service, based on Georgia's population, has risen about 22 percent in the last decade. The main library in Atlanta, with seven positions - two of which are vacant - directs the "sub-regional libraries" and serves a 16-county area on a $286,000 federal grant. The 13 branches, from Rome to Brunswick, get a total of $1.2 million from the state. The library service plans to ask the governor and Legislature for $674,646 more in this upcoming budget to keep its funding formula apace with inflation. The agency also plans to move to a new integrated computer program to improve efficiency and accountability between libraries.