All the better to read you with

Photo: a view of the low-vision magnifier and monitor donated to the library in Horn Lake by the local Lions Club. (Bob Bakken/DeSoto County News)

The M.R. Dye Public Library has a new piece of equipment Head Librarian Debra Gilbert believes will help those with low vision issues be able to come and do what they encourage people to do… read more.  

The library has been given a low-vision magnifier and monitor, provided by the Horn Lake Lions Club. The presentation was made at the library on Monday afternoon.  

“We have citizens who come in and their vision is very low,” Gilbert said. “This equipment will certainly help me immensely.”

John Storley, president of the Horn Lake Lions Club, said the 30-member local organization helps fill the service club’s mission of addressing eye issues. 

“This helps magnify words for those who can’t see too well,” Storley said. “It magnifies and makes it much easier for people to read. A lot of people love to read and it’s very important. This is just a way of helping those who are struggling to read to be able to read.”

Storley offered this demonstration of how the magnifier and monitor worked.  

The equipment, worth about $3,200, was paid for by some of the fundraising project the Lions Club undertakes each year.  

“We sell pecans in the fall,” Storley explained. “We do two steak cook offs a year and the money we make off that goes to buy eyeglasses and hearing aids, whatever people need in the city of Horn Lake.”

Gilbert said she is looking forward to having more library patrons come to the library, located at 2885 Goodman Road West in Horn Lake, be able to spend time reading without the difficulty of not making out the words on the page.  

“This is a great opportunity for the citizens here in Horn Lake,” Gilbert said. “We are excited to have this device and we’re looking forward to those who need this to come and use it. This is something that we really need in this community and we are really happy to have it.”