Off the shelves Library provides books to the visually impaired

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The last thing Marcus Engel saw was headlights.

In 1993, a drunken driver broadsided the Toyota carrying Engel through the intersection of Hampton Avenue and Chippewa Street in St. Louis.

Engel, now 26, of Chesterfield, was thrown from the vehicle. He broke every bone in his face and lost his eyesight.

After the crash, Engel said he found he could still listen to books through the Wolfner Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. Engel said he spent an entire year recovering from his surgeries and listening to books recorded on cassette tapes.

"There's not a lot you can do when you can't walk, you can't eat, you can't chew your own food," Engel said. Listening to books "just kind of a gave me an escape at the time."

The Wolfner Library provides visually impaired Missourians such as Engel with magazines and books through the mail. The free service also is open to those with physical problems that stop them from reading standard printed material. For example, someone with Parkinson's disease or rheumatoid arthritis might qualify for the service.

Wolfner serves about 18,000 of the estimated 80,000 Missourians who are eligible. Public services librarian Debbie Musselman said many older residents don't know about the service, don't think they qualify or won't admit they need help.

"Some people think it's too good to be true," she said.

Half a million books a year

Musselman and others visit nursing and retirement homes to get the word out. The library's readers are among some of the most prolific in the country. Wolfner's 18,000 patrons read about a half million books a year -- a ratio that puts Missouri in the top five in the nation.

The library traces its roots to 1924, when the St. Louis Public Library formed a special department for the blind. In 1931, the Library of Congress chose the St. Louis Public Library as one of 18 nationwide to participate in a free library service for blind adults.

After moving from place to place in St. Louis, the library relocated to Jefferson City in 1985 and to its present home in the secretary of state's building in 1991.

Wolfner sends out almost all of its material through the mail in specially designed plastic packages. The library also mails special cassette players designed to play four-track tapes.

All patrons have a "reader advisor," who asks them about their favorite types of books. A computer makes suggestions from the library's 60,000 titles. The works come in Braille, cassette, record and large-print formats.

43 copies each

Best sellers and westerns are the most popular. Musselman said Wolfner orders 43 copies of every western it keeps in stock. The same holds true for books by authors such as Mary Higgins Clark, Stephen King and Danielle Steel.

"We can't keep them on the shelf," Musselman said. "We've got waiting lists for all of them."

The library also offers videos of movies with added narration and a newspaper-reading service. In March, the newspaper service is expected to go nationwide.

One fan of best sellers is Delores Johnson, 74, of St. Charles County. Macular degeneration has taken all but the rim of the vision in her left eye. The vision in her right eye also is poor.

At first, Johnson listened to books on tape from the public library and soon found the selection too limited. She said Wolfner offers her a much greater range of books -- everything she wants from historical fiction to murder mysteries.

Said Johnson: "I'll tell you what, it's been a lifesaver, when you can't read and you like books."

The library's toll-free phone number is 1 (800) 392-2614.