Handbook for Disabilty Support in Libraries and Information Services

The advent of social inclusion policies and legislative requirements to ensure adequate facilities in public places for the disabled is having a major impact on libraries, and in particular on staff in the front line. This book offers comprehensive guidelines on the measures in libraries that enable staff to support users with disabilities, and aims to ensure a better understanding through raising awareness of user needs. Each chapter offers advice on the principal disabilities that library staff will encounter, presenting brief contextual information about the problems for library users with that particular type of disability. This is followed by a list of key measures needed to ensure the most effective support of such users, presented in helpful checklist form. Selected case studies exemplify how such measures benefit users in practice. This is an essential text for all practising library staff, at whatever level and in whatever sector, particularly those responsible for the organization and direct delivery of regular support for disabled users. It is equally useful for staff in museums, archives and records organizations.