Words to Ponder....

Your fair use of this book has been restricted.
You may only read this book once.
~Anonymous

Friday, October 24, 2008

Do Libraries Provide Access for the Visually Impaired?

Steph raised an interesting question in her response to my last post. She wondered if their are libraries that provide access for the visually impaired. I personally haven't been to one with obvious concessions to the visually impaired, but I'm sure there are. It seems that academic libraries would be more apt to provide these services. I remember at the beginning of this semester receiving correspondence from Clarion telling what to do if we had any special needs regarding Internet access, etc., so I guess that's one example of an academic library/university
providing special concessions.

I also came across a very good website with guidelines on how to provide IT access for the visually impaired. It mentions that it is far less costly to upgrade and purchase technologies as they become available rather than waiting until you actually need them for a visually impaired person and have to purchase them all at once.

The site is provided by University of Washington and the organization is called DO IT.
http://www.washington.edu/doit/Brochures/Technology/libsrv.html

I found it interesting to peruse the suggestions and steps. Does anyone else have any experience with visually impaired technologies or has anyone seen it in use in a library?

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