"I've found the joy of life here," said an 80-year-old man surnamed Tang, who has suffered from blindness for years. He was referring to the reading room for the visually impaired at Baiyun Library, which has become a paradise for Tang and other blind individuals. They can listen to all sorts of audio books recorded by hundreds of voluntary "voice donors." Recently, this volunteer endeavor was listed as the "Guangzhou Excellent Cultural Voluntary Service Project" in 2017.
An employee at Baiyun Library received a phone call two years ago from a visually impaired person who hoped that the library could make some audio books for him. After investigating the idea, the library formally launched the activity of making audio books for the visually impaired.
The library recruits volunteers through its website, WeChat account, hotline and on-site registration. To allow more people to join the volunteer team, Baiyun District also has held several tryouts since the beginning of 2017. The number of the the volunteers keeps climbing. To date 520 people have become voice donors, recording a large number of high-quality audio books. Overall, 1,081 hours of reading books have been recorded. More than 2,000 visually impaired people have benefited from this project.
"On one hand, more convenience will be offered to the visually impaired through the works of the volunteers," said a library staff member. "On the other, the volunteers can deliver the charm of reading through voice." For more than a year, the library has accumulated a significant number of audio books and uploaded them to its official website. It has shared some of the works on its WeChat account on a regular basis and burn CDs for those in need.
The library employee said that in the future the library will strive to raise the quality of the books and expand its service range by, for instance, making Cantonese audio books and audio books that are suitable for low-age visually impaired groups.
For those who want to sign up for recording books
1. Register a personal account on the official website or the WeChat account of "i志愿"( it will take three to five days before the account is granted).
2. Follow the WeChat account "广州市白云区图书馆" and send the message "志愿者." You will receive a link to sign up.
3. After registration, applicants will receive short messages on Tuesdays or Fridays, notifying them whether they were accepted into the program.
4. After receiving the message, applicants can call the library and make an appointment. The number is 020-37411591. The consultation time is 9:30 a.m. to noon, 1:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m., from Tuesday to Friday, and 9:30 a.m to noon and 12:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
For those who want to listen to the audio books
1. Follow the WeChat account "广州市白云区图书馆," and it will offer followers some of the works on its column "云声朗朗，声声入耳," every week.
2. Log onto the official website of the library: http://lib.by.gov.cn/ and click "云语者." You then can download different audio books.
3. Readers can also go to the reading rooms of the library themselves and get copies of the books.
Source: WECHAT(SilkRoadPost)
