Newark library boosts tech to bridge digital divide for impaired users

When Newark Public Library officials held a ribbon cutting last week for a pair of new rooms intended to expand access to information for its users, speakers were accompanied by both an American Sign Language interpreter and a digital transcription device that displayed their remarks on a monitor in real time.

That’s because the two new rooms, or “centers,” are meant to provide people with hearing and visual impairments access to information not always readily available to them even if they already have standard computer technology at their disposal.

“These are two centers for access, centers for people really getting to use the materials and the progress and the tools that they have to grow,” the city library system’s director, Christian Zabriskie, told several dozen staffers, people with impairments, and others gathered Thursday in the marble atrium of the main branch on Washington Street.

The digital divide persists in some places, even among people without impairments. In Newark, for example, library officials said 20% of city households do not have home wi-fi, compared to the statewide rate of just 8%, according to 2023 Census data, making the library system much more critical as a public resource.

“When I was in librarian school way back in 2000, we talked about the digital divide,” Zabriskie said. Referring to the differences in access between people with and without impairments, he added, “As time has gone by, the digital divide is still there.”

To help bridge the impairment-related digital divide, the new computer lab at the library unveiled Thursday has 40 brand new workstations with extra-large screens, allowing visually impaired users to read or write using larger font sizes, view larger images or open multiple windows without sacrificing size.

For users who need to see what keys they’re pressing, a separate “resource room” includes a workstation with a keyboard featuring bold, black letters, numbers and symbols stamped on oversized yellow keys.

A bookshelf in the same resource room holds several newly arrived books in braille that augment the library’s existing collection, including a copy of "The Merciless Ladies" by the 20th-century British novelist Winston Graham.

To the untrained fingertip, the pages of the loose-leaf-sized book feel like goosebumps on paper. But to the branch’s special services librarian, Lolata Greggs, who reads braille, they’re windows on the world of Graham’s protagonist, whose “shift from popular paintings to ambitious works alienates his wife, his patrons, and the critics,” according to a plot summary by GoodReads.com.

Zabriskie put the cost of the resource room and lab at $1.1 million, with funding sources including the New Jersey State Library, the City of Newark, the Victoria Foundation and individual private donors.

Newark City Councilman Patrick Council alluded to the content of works like Graham’s and others that will be available to more library users thanks to the new resources.

“Every room that opens in a library is another room for adventure,” Council said.

James Jasey, 70, of South Orange, lost his sight 25 years ago following a car accident. He became a regular visitor to the Newark Public Library a few years after that, and in 2007, founded a support group and website called Beyond The Eyes.

“This is like home to me,” Jasey said.

The computer lab and resource room are part of a broader restoration of the library’s 124-year-old main branch, which will also include an LGBTQ room. Zabriskie called the library “an open, welcoming space” for anyone from school children to scholars of Newark native Philip Roth to members of Newark’s unhoused community.

More than a repository for books, the library also serves as a resource for people seeking work or social services, a gathering place, event space, and exhibit hall.

For example, on Thursday, the second-floor balcony hosted a temporary exhibit on Black drummers, drums and drum music, from African to jazz, with photographs, posters, programs, vintage instruments and videos.

Thursday’s ribbon cutting was hosted by Thyson Halley, the library’s event coordinator, who is hearing impaired and fluid in American Sign Language, or ASL. The sign language interpreter was Jay Lee, who teaches at the Bruce Street School for the Deaf, a k-8 facility that shares a building on Clinton Place with Newark Public Schools' George Washington Carver Elementary School.

Victoria Foundation CFO Diana Kostas was on hand to represent the Newark-based charity, founded in 1924 and headquartered across Washington Street from the library. The foundation has contributed $1.8 million in operating funds to the library since 1978.

Others on hand included Off. Nyia Lee and Sgt. Lamar Townes of the Orange Police Department, where they said nearly half the 120 members of the force have trained in the basics of signing.

Townes, who signed as Lee spoke, isn’t hearing-impaired. But he began learning to sign 11 years ago after being unable to assist a deaf woman. He’s now one of a half-dozen certified police interpreters in New Jersey.

Lee told the gathering that learning to sign, aided by cards with basic information, helped officers “bridge the gap” with the hearing-impaired community to avoid misunderstandings during traffic stops or when someone needs help.

“We’ve had countless situations where there was someone who was deaf or hard of hearing in need of help, just like anyone else, and could not communicate with anyone there,” Lee said. “So, it was very important that we learn the language, so that we can provide the same service to them as anyone else.”

Elizabeth Hill, executive director of the New Jersey Division of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, signed for herself as she spoke on Thursday. Citing the new rooms and past initiatives, Hill said Newark’s library exemplified “what true inclusivity looks like.”

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Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com