Practical Information

• Entering the Bpi
• Best Times to Come
• Arrangements for Disabled Persons
  • Access for Disabled Persons
  • Rooms for Disabled Persons
    • Vocale Presse
  • Activities for Disabled Persons
• Group Visits
• Services Provided
• Bpi Ombudsman

Rooms for persons with a visual impairment

Five rooms ("loges") are reserved for persons with a visual impairment, so that they can use the resources and services of the Library. They are insulated against the noise of the Library, furnished with special equipment, and have lighting that can be adjusted.

Make a virtual visit to a "loge"...

Specially adapted equipment:

• Multimedia PCs that provide access to the Library's catalogue and to Internet
• Equipment that makes it possible to read documents, to take notes, to listen to and print material (reading machines, scanners, printers, Braille printer, tape recorders, Braille keyboards).

Braille keyboard

Specially adapted work-station

Personalised help:

For assistance, users with visual impairment can call upon members of the Library staff and a team of volunteer guides. These helpers will:

• provide assistance in using the Library's catalogue and in searching on Internet
• accompany the users when looking for books in the collections or using other media and services available in the Library
• read printed documents aloud to them
• help them to record and take notes
• provide training in the use of the computer equipment in these rooms
  (by appointment, arranged in advance by phoning 01 44 78 43 75)

How to use one of these rooms?

These rooms must be reserved in advance.
Four of the five rooms ("loges" 1-4) can be used by a user alone or accompanied by the person of her/his choice, including the accredited volunteer guides.
To use the fifth room, the user must be accompanied by one of the accredited volunteer guides or by a member of the Library staff.

The rooms may be booked on the spot or by telephone (01 44 78 12 75) during the opening hours of the Library, indicating the name of the guide (if any), what equipment is needed and the number of the room to be reserved (the list of the equipment in each of the rooms is available in Braille or in large characters at the General Information counter).

List of equipment in the rooms

•  Loge 1
  • 1 multimedia PC with access to the Bpi catalogue and to Internet. Software: Jaws 6.20, Office XP 2003, Zoomtext 8.0.
  • 1 Etex Génie Pro Telesensory video magnifier
  • 1 Reading Edge optical character recognition machine (reading machine)
  • 1 tape-recorder, with a microphone
  • 1 socket for the user's computer
  • "Vocale Presse"
  • 1 colour printer (A3 format)
• Loge 2• 1 multimedia PC with access to the Bpi catalogue and to Internet. Software: Jaws 6.20, Office XP 2003, Zoomtext 8.0, Omnipage Pro 12.
  • 1 tape-recorder, with a microphone
  • 1 socket for the user's computer
  • 1 scanner with Omnipage Pro 12 optical character recognition software
  • 1 colour printer / scanner (A4 format)
  • 1 Etex Merlin Plus colour video magnifier
  • 1 Sensotec Reporter CD reading machine

• Loge 3
  • 1 multimedia PC with 21-inch screen, and with access to the Bpi catalogue and to Internet. Software: Jaws 6.20, Office XP 2003, Zoomtext 8.0, Omnipage Pro 12.
  • 1 Sensotec Reporter CD reading machine
  • 1 Epson 900 colour printer
  • 1 tape-recorder, with a microphone
  • 1 Etex Merlin Plus colour video magnifier
  • "Vocale Presse"
  • 1 Braillex Braille keyboard

•  Loge 4
  • 1 multimedia PC with a 21-inch screen, and with access to the Bpi catalogue and to Internet. Software: Jaws 6.20, Office XP 2003, Zoomtext 8.0, Omnipage Pro 12.
  • 1 Aladdin Genie Pro colour television magnifier (connected to the computer screen)
  • 1 tape-recorder, with a microphone
  • 1 Perkins Braille typewriter
  • 1 colour printer / scanner (A4 format)

• Loge 5• 1 multimedia PC with access to the Bpi catalogue and to Internet. Software: Jaws 6.20, Office XP 2003, Zoomtext 8.0.
  • 1 Braillex Braille keyboard
  • 1 Aladdin Genie Pro colour television magnifier (connected to the computer screen)
  • 1 tape-recorder, with a microphone
  • 1 Perkins Braille typewriter
  • 1 Index basic Braille printer (Duxburry Braille translator)

Work-stations equipped with 21-inch screens and the Zoomtext software are available on all floors of the Library, as well as a video enlarger on Level 2.

A list of the guides accredited by the Bpi is at your disposal, in large black characters and in Braille, at the General Information counter.