Library Services

Since 1966, when the Eugenides Foundation Library officially opened its doors to the public, it started its operation as a model library with two pioneering special library services, which it maintains to date:

(a) open, free access to its premises and collections; and

(b) lending of books to any interested person.

From the beginning of 2023, the Library operates fully renovated, after the redesign of its spaces, collections and services, which began in 2018 with the aim of better adapting to the digital age, to current trends and information needs.

The philosophy of the new design aims to its function as a hybrid library, by:

- Enriching its printed and digital collections focusing on the most contemporary areas of Technical and Maritime Education, Science and New Technologies
- Modernizing its services, with particular emphasis on the use and promotion of new technologies and the digital environment
 

Lending service and remote access to digital material

The Foundation offers free access and use of its Library to anyone who accepts its regulations and registers in its members' archive.

- Member registration is free of charge according to the procedure described in the "Member Registration" section of Policies and Regulations HERE.
- By registering in the Library, each interested person obtains a membership card with a special code, which allows them to access the Library’s premises and services.

The Library's print and digital collections are available to members for use on its premises, but printed books are also available for loan.

Periodicals, reference books (such as encyclopedias, dictionaries), volumes of series, rare editions and other books designated by the library and marked with a yellow sticker on the spine are excluded from the lending service.

Remote access is offered for most of the digital material. For more information please contact the Library staff.

Bibliographic records of all the Library’s material are searchable on the Library's Open Access Catalogue (OPAC) via the Foundation's website. Detailed information and informative videos on the features and services offered through the OPAC, as well as on basic general issues of locating and evaluating information, can be found HERE. 

The Library's journal catalogue is also searchable through the National Union Catalogue of Scientific Journals, given that the Library is a member of the National Documentation Center's Network of Science and Technology Libraries. This Catalogue enables interested parties to locate which Greek library holds a journal, as well as to view the entire collection of a library from those that participate.

New service "My Account": the Library offers its members the possibility to create a Personal Profile through the service "My Account", provided by its OPAC. Through their Account, each member has many additional possibilities such as to communicate with the Library (e.g. to make suggestions for the purchase of new material), to receive messages from the Library staff, to update their contact details in case they have changed, to check their current loans, to renew the loan period of the material they have borrowed, to view the history of their check outs, to reserve books of interest, to create lists of material of their preference, to create tags and to evaluate the material they have studied.

New services and Integrated RFID System: For the security of the material, for the updating of its services, as well as for the better service of its readers, the Library proceeded to the installation of an Integrated Radio Frequency Identification System (RFID), which includes a workstation for marking and lending, a scanner for locating books on the shelves and assisting the process of inventory, a security gate, a special Access Control Swing Gate and a self-service station.

The Self-Service Station can be easily used by active registered users (members), by simply scanning their personal membership card, for borrowing, renewal or return of books. At the same station the readers can also check the status of their Library account (how many and which books they have borrowed and whether there are any charges for late returns).

Photocopies

A photocopying machine, which also operates as a scanner, is available to the public in the Library for a limited number of photocopies - scanning.

Small-scale photocopying/scanning, e.g. a few pages, is permitted exclusively for personal study or research, or to meet educational needs. In any case photocopying should comply with the restrictive terms of copyright laws in force.

Use of computers: The computers available in the Library provide Library members with free access to the Internet, through the EugenWiFi wireless network, to all its electronic resources, as well as to various computer programs such as: Word, Excel, Power Point and Access.

In addition to the computers provided in the Library, visitors can also access the wireless network in any area of the Library, via their own laptops. 

Services for people with disabilities

With the ultimate goal of ensuring that people with disabilities have equal access to all printed and electronic information in the Library, the Foundation has provided a range of accessibility products to equip two workstations installed in the Library.

These stations allow people with disabilities to use the computers at the workstations and to access the Library's collections and the Internet.

The categories of disabled people that are supported are: visually impaired people, people with mobility impairment (mainly in the upper limbs or quadriplegia) and people with print disabilities (e.g. dyslexia).

The following is a brief description of the Workstations and their supporting technology products:

For People with Visual Impairment

The workstation supporting access for the visually impaired consists of a powerful 22-inch touchscreen computer installed with the requisite SuperNova Access Suite magnification and screen-reading software.

This software, in conjunction with the speech synthesis PhonAesthesia Visual Professional software and TTS Reader, provides a voiced reading of the computer’s screen data through the high-quality speakers or headphones available, while making it possible to display the screen data in magnification or in a choice of colour combinations that, due to their strong contrast, are for users with impaired vision.

Screen-reading and magnification software is the basic tool for accessing the computer, which also supports the display of data in Braille on the workstation’s special Braille ALVA USB 640 screen, which has 40 Braille characters.

In order to convert a text quickly into editable and therefore accessible text, the workstation is complemented by a Fujitsu FI-5015C scanner, which has the capability of digitizing printed material at high speed. With the help of the scanner, we can convert any type of printed matter into an image, which we then convert into editable text with the help of the optical character recognition (OCR) software ABBYY Fine Reader 10.0 Professional, installed at the workstation. With the completion of the optical character recognition, the resulting editable text is fully accessible to visually impaired people through the SuperNova Access Suite.

The workstation has also an Everest Braille Index for embossing Braille. It is accompanied by a noise reduction hood and is installed in an adjacent room, so as not to disturb the visitors to the Library. The production of Braille texts is done through Win Braille software, which undertakes the conversion-translation of any electronic text into Braille format and sends it to the Everest Index embosser for printing.

Next to the workstation, a full Optelec ClearView+ Colour closed-loop magnification system has been installed, with a 22-inch TFT screen on an ergonomic monitor arm, which is yet another complete workstation for people with reduced vision. This device allows the user to place a book or an object on the special reading platform under the camera and see the enlarged book or item in magnification (from 2 to 75 times) and to choose the imaging mode (colour, greyscale, high-contrast projections).

To provide additional ease of access to this workstation, the Hlektronikos Logografos speech recognition software has also been installed – this can convert the user’s voice into text or computer commands. Finally, the Library also offers Windows visual learning books with embossed images, as well as in Braille format (in English).

Many of the above-mentioned assistive technology products, and above all the screen- reading and magnification software coupled with speech synthesis software, are ideal tools for practicing and helping people with learning or similar difficulties, such as dyslexia, for which the workstation we have described could be extremely useful.

For People with Mobility Impairment

The workstation to support people with mobility impairment consists of a powerful computer with a 22-inch touchscreen and MLS Talk & Write speech recognition software. This software has the ability to transform the user’s voice into text or commands on the computer.

To take into account the significant problem of computer use by people with mobility issues, this workstation has alternative access technology devices. For this reason, there are two alternative keyboards for computer use.

One of these is the BigKeys LX keyboard, which comes with the optional rigid keyguard. The BigKeys LX features 2 x 2 cm large keys and helps people with hand-movement problems to use a keyboard. The second one is the Cherry Keyboard with a metallic-mesh grid to isolate the keys. It is essentially a conventional keyboard, but its grid makes it easier for people with relatively less finger movement to use the computer.

To facilitate the use of the mouse by people with hand mobility problems, the workstation has two alternative mice, the Roller II Joystick and the Roller II Trackball. The Roller II Joystick is a device that features a motion lever and simulates a conventional mouse. Pressing the lever, the user moves the mouse pointer on the computer screen.

The Roller II Trackball works in the same way, with the only difference being that, instead of a lever, the user rotates a motion ball to move the mouse pointer. Both devices have buttons that match conventional mouse buttons, but they also support the connection of external switches to make it easier for people with more serious mobility issues to access the keys.

To support users who need large keys to access the workstation, the Library has purchased six Jelly Bean Twist medium-sized binary switches. For the more ergonomic placement of some of the mobility-access equipment, support brackets are also available, easily adaptable to workstation desks or a wheelchair if required.

To achieve the maximum flexibility of combinations in the functions that can be implemented using the Jelly Bean Twist switches, there is also a Don Johnston Switch Interface Pro switching interface device, to which we can connect up to five external switches.