brand logo

Library services must evolve to cater to visually impaired students in SL

11 Aug 2022

BY Ruwan Laknath Jayakody Since visually impaired students face difficulties in accessing library based resources, it is recommended that special services be established for them, and for library staff members and volunteers to co-ordinate with them, and help them during library working hours with regard to searching for information, reading textbooks, and note-taking, while the lending period for books should be extended. These recommendations were made in an article on the “Factors affecting the use of information by visually impaired students: With special reference to the Library of the University of Colombo'”, which was authored by M.A. Lankathilake (Assistant Librarian at the said University), and T. Ramanan (Senior Assistant Librarian at the Faculty of Technology of the same University), and published in the Journal of the University Librarians’ Association of Sri Lanka 25(2) in July 2022. The Library of the University of Colombo provides special resources, devices, and services to visually impaired students (the Resource Centre for the Visually Impaired at the Main Library, and the Support Centre for Disabled Students in the Faculty of Arts are places where visually impaired undergraduates could get help in finding information, or borrowing assistive devices to be used within the university premises), but the inequality gap between the visually able users and the visually impaired students is wide.  Lankathilake et al. conducted a survey to ascertain the perception of visually impaired students with regard to library services, specifically the issues and challenges faced by visually impaired students, and gaps in the library resources and services designated for visually impaired students. The study was carried out at the university in 2018 as a qualitative study. A total population of 43 students was approached with a semi structured interview schedule. Among them, 40 students were from the Faculty of Arts, while the other three students were from the Faculty of Law, the Faculty of Education, and the Faculty of Science. The majority of the respondents (71%) stated that the lack of audio books is a main issue that they face in searching for information. The institutional issues faced by them include only a scarcity of required materials being available in the library, specifically only a few audio books being available, only a very few, or no audio recordings of academic books being available, and there being little to no Braille books in the library. There was also the absence of a hotline number which these users could use to contact the library when they needed help in searching for information without physically visiting the library. The borrowing period for books is not enough. There is also less support for students who can only speak Tamil. Special lighting facilities such as table lamps for partially visually impaired undergraduates to read the printed text are not available at the library. The lack of a separate collection with easy access, especially on the ground floor and/or the first floor of the library were other factors that impeded the usability. Visually impaired students typically resort to the main library and the Internet to get information, in addition to a few other places where they could obtain special services.  Some respondents mentioned that their personal issues hindered the use of information sources. Since visually impaired students depend mostly on others (to get help in searching and selecting books in the library), their library use is hugely restricted when those helpers are also busy (they get less help to get a printed book, and read or record book chapters, when their friends are busy during exam times and it is hard to find someone to record book chapters). Personal challenges include the lack of skills (not having much IT skills and training to find/search information on the Internet and databases, and searching in the online public access catalogue [OPAC] with a screen-reading facility).  Technological obstacles present challenges to visually impaired users, and these include that some learning management system (LMS) materials (those in pdf format) cannot be read by software, not being able to use the LMS without the help of others, and difficulties when software updates take place. However, the majority of the respondents stated that they face more institutional issues than the other two. The lack of audiobooks available at the library is the major issue stated by the respondents, and they prefer audio recordings of important reference materials, although half of them could read the print text with assistive technology.  The second-biggest challenge for visually impaired users is their inevitable dependence on others to use the library and information resources. Apart from these two challenges, the respondents revealed their grief about the lack of Braille materials, the absence of resources in their mother tongue, and the incompatibility of the LMS with certain resources. In this study, the majority of the respondents (81%) heavily depended on the resources made available at the main library of the university, regardless of their nature of visual impairment. Visually impaired students still faced a lot of issues, such as the inadequate number of audio books. One of the major challenges for them was their inability to move independently around the library. Despite the majority of visually impaired users (90%) depending on the Internet for information, their exploitation is limited as many sites do not provide screen reading facilities. This study therefore identified special training needs to increase the efficacy of using the electronic resources and the Internet. The Digital Accessible Information System Digital Talking Book Player is the device used by most of the respondents. On the other hand, the Braille reader is the least popular device among students due to its high price and complexity.  Based on the inferences drawn from the survey, the library has to improve its collection. For example, an investment on the audio book collection, both academic as well as leisure reading, has to be materialised. Since some students still preferred Braille books, there could be a collection of such resources too. The collection ought to comprise materials in all three languages, namely Sinhala, Tamil, and English. A hotline phone number can be recommended through which visually impaired students can contact the library and obtain the relevant information. Information such as on new arrivals, and regarding training and workshops could be passed onto visually impaired students through SMS, and social media such as WhatsApp, Viber, and Facebook, as most of the respondents stated that they use the Internet and smartphones, as well as social media. Training programmes on information-searching techniques, the use of e-resources and less popular assistive devices, and training on searching for books through an online catalogue with the help of a screen reader, are other important suggestions. It is equally important to provide training sessions for the library staff on assistive devices, technologies, and other special services for needy students. The study also recommended a spacious, separate e-resources room in the library, with computers where the users with visual impairments can work with screen reader facilities.


More News..