(NewsUSA) - Once or twice a year, oceanographer Amy Bower of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution puts on her sea legs and leads a research expedition to track ocean currents around the globe. In addition to a glittering array of highly technical moors, buoys, sensors, trackers and the like, Bower packs a digital audio player filled with books downloaded from the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS), the Library of Congress.
"When I go on my research cruises, I'll take five to ten books and magazines," says Bower, who lost her sight in 1993 because of macular degeneration. Even if she is in water too deep to anchor or nowhere near a harbor, her books are always within reach.
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