SITECUES | CASE STUDY

CHALLENGES:
The NJ State Library is poignantly aware of the growing population that experiences visual impairments
or trouble reading. According to the CDC, estimates
project that in the next three decades, the population of adults with vision impairment and age-related
eye diseases will double due to aging, diabetes and
other chronic illnesses. In addition to this number,
libraries also serve a demographic of people who
might have reading disorders like dyslexia or have
su ered brain in uries rom a stroke, or ot er causes,
who need to read with assistance.
To serve these people, the NJ State Library began
by implementing information kiosks at Outspoken
Libraries to increase the visibility of their services.
However, the kiosks worked mostly as PR tools
and didnt provide assistive technology to solve the
problem at hand. As time went on, the community
expressed a need for a more useful technology.
With a grant from the Comcast Foundation, the NJ
state library explored using tools like ZoomText and
JAWS (Job Access With Speech) and pointing peoe to t e magni cation o tion on oog e C rome.

sitecues is a web-based software solution

that builds zoom and speech features
right into websites. sitecues enhances
accessibility and usability for people of all
ages that experience vision, learning and
languages challenges.

ZoomText and JAWS were too expensive because of

the grant. Google Chrome was free, but it was hard for
eo e to nd and initiate t e too , and t e images ost
clarity once enlarged.

At the state library, we provide leadership and guidance to educational

institutions, other state agencies, and public and school libraries across
New Jersey, and what we want to advocate is a method that makes it
easy for them to help serve their print disabled population
Adam Szczepaniak,
Director of Talking Book and Braille at the NJ State Library

THE NEW JERSEY STATE LIBRARY

HOW SITECUES HELPED

Exploring their options, the NJ State Library found
sitecues. They describe the product as simple
very very intuitive and easy. Mary Kearns-Kaplan,
Adult Service Outreach Coordinator at the NJ State
Library, highlighted the ease and discoverability of
the embedded tool as well as essential features that
magnify text while maintaining clarity and text to
speech options that read articles out loud to community members.
itecues as eas or atrons to use and gure out
with little assistance. Put simply, it worked and
provided an alternative way for people with visual
im airments to read. t a so e ective removed t e
hurdle of having to train a community on how to
use assistive technology and the costs associated
while still expanding accessibility.

ective
ut into ace and orking in t e com- munity, the NJ State Library is able to reach out to patrons
asking, Do you need an easier way to read? Do you
want a better way to read? and provide a solution to
these expressed challenges.

RESULTS, RETURN ON INVESTMENT

AND FUTURE PLANS
The NJ State Library has also inquired into upcoming
features and made suggestions that express their true
commitment to serving their entire community at the
highest possible standard with sitecues.

Described as a no-brainer, sitecues was put into

place on the NJ State Library website and sitecues
Everywhere is installed on their Outspoken Library
computers. The actual implementation of the product was hard- ly a talking point. It was just easy.

Before the Outspoken Library and sitecues, many people just didnt
have a place to turn. As we work forward, well be able to give them
the initial step into how they can read by, basically, listening
Adam Szczepaniak,
Director of Talking Book and Braille at the NJ State Library

(857) 259-5272 | sitecues@aisquared.com | 100 Cambridge Park Drive, 2nd floor Cambridge, MA 02140

Try

sitecues

by Ai Squared

on www.njstatelib.org

Contact us today for a demo of sitecues

E: bsauln@aisquared.com
P: (857) 259-5272