Berks County Public Libraries is proud to offer EnChroma color blind glasses for county library patrons. Patrons who are color vision deficient may borrow glasses from their local library to explore Berks County (and beyond!) in vivid color.
All 16 pairs of the indoor and outdoor color blind glasses will be housed at the library system headquarters in Leesport and will travel to any of the 23 member library locations when requested. There are three styles of glasses to suit a broader range of vision.
Grayson indoor (regular adult)- Ventura outdoor (regular adult)
- Colby indoor (kids)
- Colby outdoor (kids)
- Altavista indoor (fit over adult)
- Altavista outdoor (fit over adult)
One in 12 men (8%) and one in 200 women (.5%) are color vision deficient; affecting an estimated 13 million in the United States and 350 million worldwide. An estimated 17,500 individuals in Berks County experience some form of color vision deficiency.
Those who are color blind only see about 10% of the colors and hues other people see, and that any colors containing red or green can be challenging for them to see (like purple, pink, red, variations of green, orange, etc.)
Below are a few color converted image courtesy of EnChroma that depict standard and color views included two iconic Berks County scenes.
On Saturday, June 26, a live reveal event was held to introduce the color blind glasses into the catalog. Berks County Public Libraries is the first institution in Pennsylvania to offer EnChroma glasses free for public use, coinciding with the launch of the library system’s 35th Anniversary Celebration to highlight how Berks libraries have evolved and transformed into the community pillars they are today.