Services for customers with disabilities
For the housebound:
- The Housebound service is available to customers who are permanently house bound. We can find books for you and deliver them to your door. If you are temporarily house bound, try Library Express. There are also collection deposits in rest homes for residents with mobility difficulties.
- Check out our online services.
- We offer a large range of talking books, cassettes, CDs, DVDs and videos. If you have a disability which prevents you from using printed material, you can become a Talking Book borrower and use AV material for free. There are also Large Print book collections at all sites. This collection is growing all the time because of demand. Magnifying glasses are available at Johnsonville and Central libraries.
- If you have some small text you want to read, try the SmartView video magnifier, located by the Large Print book collection on the Ground Floor of Central Library.
- If your sight impairment qualifies you for membership of the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind or equivalent, you will be eligible to borrow CDs and DVDs for free (overdues fees will still apply). Please bring notification from the Foundation or your health professional and eligilibity will be noted on your library account.
Explore our growing collection of Overdrive digital audio books and use your library card to download titles to your computer, transfer them to a compatible MP3/WMA player, or burn selected books onto a CD for listening on the go. Check it out now. If you don't have a compatible MP3 player, then this collection is available to you via one of the free MP3 players which can be borrowed from Central Library. Just visit the Central Library Fiction desk or call (04) 801-4065 during library opening hours, tell us which book you want added to your Overdrive account, and we will download it for you onto the player. You can borrow the player for two weeks.
- All Wellington City Libraries branches are wheelchair accessible.
- The issue desk at Tawa Library is wheelchair accessible.
- A wheelchair is available at Central Library; just ask at the Information Desk by the Ground Floor entrance.
- There are disabled toilets at Tawa, Kilbirnie and Central Libraries. The Central library toilet is on the mezzanine floor (the toilet roll holder has been repositioned for better access for wheelchairs).
- An Oticon assisted hearing system is available at Central, Newtown and Tawa libraries.
- There are team members at many branches with a basic knowledge of sign language.
- If you belong to the Deaf Association, you will get free DVD issues if you have a Deaf Asssociation Members card. Current cards have to be shown at the time of issues.
- Wellington City Libraries runs mental health training for staff and this has assisted us in communicating well with all members of the public. Groups of people with mental and physical disabilities are welcome to contact the library and arrange to attend special library sessions.
Technology for customers with disabilities:
- ZoomText software is available to use on the Second Floor Free Internet computer (Central Library) and at Karori Library. ZoomText enlarges font size on webpages and electronic documents (email, newspaper databases etc) and can be set to read these aloud or display in high contrast large print. Contact Housebound for further information.
- Thousands of magazines, newspapers and computer e-books are available online through our mygateway.info databases. You can access these from home, work or any place with an internet PC.
- Search our catalogue, check your library card and place reserves online via the Internet from home or any Internet PC.
- You can personalise our website with MyLibrary - select the areas of our website you're interested in, choose if you want email updates and explore our monthly lists of new books and AV material.
- Try KidsCat Web for a fun pictorial version of our catalogue. KidsCat also provides access to child friendly web pages.
