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December 02, 2009

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AIRS (Access to Information and Reading Services) is part of Gateshead Council's library service. We are unique - as far as we know - in being the only council in the UK to offer a free regular talking newspaper service to local residents, accessible library and information services, and a range of transcription services to local and national information providers.

The talking newspaper service was originally started as a project in 1987 and was followed a couple of years later by the transcription service. Both services officially became part of the library service in 1994, demonstrating the council's early and ongoing commitment to providing accessible information for people who are unable to read standard print.

Talking Newspaper
AIRS produces and delivers its talking newspaper and magazine service on audio cassette three times a week to residents in Gateshead free of charge, and on subscription to our regional and national listeners (the full service is available to non-Gateshead residents for a small subscription fee). We have our own recording studios and team of full-time and part-time readers/researchers who all write for and read on our tapes, plus regular external contributors such as church ministers and local writing group members.

Transcription Service
AIRS has an extensive transcription service, converting a wide variety of print information such as birthday cards, financial and utilities statements, leaflets and company literature into large print, Braille and audio formats. We can also translate English into British Sign Language (BSL), the first or preferred language of approximately 250,000 people in the UK. We can provide tactile maps and plans on swell paper to help make venues, exhibitions and displays more accessible for visually impaired people.

Accessible Library Services
Our Information Assistant (Braille), who is blind, and Information Assistant (British Sign Language), who is a Deaf BSL user, work closely with our library colleagues to make our services accessible for sensory impaired people. For example, we run two Visually Impaired Readers' Groups with more than 20 partially sighted or blind members who read large print or Braille or listen to audio books. The groups meet once a month in Blaydon Library and Gateshead Central Library respectively. Books we have read so far include:

  • 'Bel Canto' by Ann Patchett

  • 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone' by J K Rowling

  • 'Notes from a Small Island' by Bill Bryson

  • 'Girl with a Pearl Earring' by Tracey Chevalier

  • 'Northern Lights' by Philip Pullman

  • 'Mrs Fytton's Country Life' by Mavis Cheek

  • 'All Bones and Lies' by Anne Fine


  • We run monthly storytelling sessions in the Central Library in BSL for Deaf children and their hearing siblings. We have a section called Deaf Resources in iKnow, containing information in and about BSL, and run Internet training and an Internet club for Deaf people.

    Contact Details

    Tel 0191 433 8450

    Fax 0191 477 7852

    e-mail [email protected]

    Minicom 0191 478 4839

    SMS 07887 628004 (text messages only)


 








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You can access many different online resources through our web site - music sites, newspaper archives, family history resources...






Tel - 0191 433 8450       Fax - 0191 477 7852       Email - [email protected]

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