Without the audiotapes, many students would be unable to fully obtain written material necessary for their classes, said Jane Spinti, coordinator of NMSU s Services for Students with Disabilities. Many of our students have a hard time reading, so listening to the tapes helps them to access written material and makes it easier for them to learn, Spinti said. The center is in need of volunteers to record textbooks, especially for engineering and mathematics fields. The university provides a recorder, cassette tapes and textbooks to each volunteer. Typically, volunteers spend four to 10 hours a week reading and recording the text.
Most readers follow a class syllabus and stay a couple of weeks ahead of schedule.
McLennan has worked in the program for more than three years. He typically spends about an hour a day reading anything from textbooks to novels, he said. His last project was a Shakespeare play in rhymed pentameter. Positive people have been coming back to read over and over, he said. The program receives some funding to buy books already on tape, but most tapes are recorded by local volunteers.