جستجوی مقالات مرتبط با کلیدواژه « visually impaired » در نشریات گروه « کتابداری و مدیریت اطلاعات »

The purpose of the research is to investigate the interaction blind and partially sighted users with the public libraries of the country and their goals and motivations for visiting libraries and to determine their level of satisfaction with these services.

The current research is conducted with a survey method and a descriptive approach. The statistical population includes 365 active members who were selected by random sampling. A total of 233 questionnaires were completed by the participants with telephone and face-to-face follow-ups. The data collection tool was a questionnaire.  Statistical techniques and SPSS22 software were used to analyze the research data.

According to the research findings, most of the sections for the blind (29 sections) are in the central library or urban libraries in the center of the province and the rest of the cities do not have this section. In terms of gender, 54.1% of the users in the blind sector are women, and in terms of qualifications, most users (44.6%) have a bachelor's degree. 51.5% of users are completely blind and 48.5% are blind. In general, users' satisfaction with the current situation is above average (3.95 out of 5 on the Likert scale) and the highest level of satisfaction with the attitude, guidance, knowledge and expertise of library librarians and the level of satisfaction with the quality, quantity and up-to-dateness of library resources in It was moderate. Also, the lowest level of users' satisfaction was with the signs and guidelines for their guidance and the design and architecture of the blind section.

It seems that due to the significant deficiencies and shortcomings that can be seen in the research findings, it is necessary for the Iran's public libraries to improve services at different levels so that blind and visually impaired users can more easily and satisfactorily use the facilities and resources of libraries.

Originality: 

Numerous research have been done in the field of the blind section of public libraries and each of them has studied the blind section of a specific library, but this research covers all the blind sections of public libraries in the country.

the present study aimed at reviewing the public libraries under the agencies of the Public Libraries of the country services to disabled (physically disabled, blind and visually impaired, deaf and hard of hearing people).

 the methodology used in this study is a survey with descriptive and inferential statistics done in a definite time. The research population of this stage consisted of all public libraries under the agencies of the Public Libraries of the country. The researcher-development questionnaire was a Data gathering tool and used SPSS 23 software for analyzing data.

The results showed that in the category of providing services to different groups of the disabled, 50% of libraries provide services to the physically disabled, but only 11% of libraries provide services to the deaf and hard of hearing, and 12% provide services to the blind and visually impaired people. The results of the survey of public libraries based on 7 groups of services and activities include library accessibility and physical structure, advertising and service development, collection, policy and budget, services, information technology and equipment, and staff training required by the disabled, showed that the situation of the services was under average. The highest average related to library accessibility and physical structure (2.49) and staff training (1.49) was the lowest average among the public library services. In policy and budget groups, the manager’s support for delivering services to the disabled is in the first rank. In the group of library accessibility and physical structure, most of the libraries (84.9%) are equipped with suitable light and only 7.7% of them had toilets. In the advertising and service development group, informing activities and library programs through multiple channels was the most important factor. In the staff training group, most of the libraries suffer from qualified librarians. the familiarity of librarians and managers with the types of disabilities and the services they need and the existence of trained librarians are not in good condition )1.44). In the category of equipment required, the most important equipment was scanner that existed in 632 libraries (6.2%).

Libraries must pay attention to the needs and expectations of people with disabilities. The study of the status of public libraries in providing services to the disabled has not been done to such an extent. The findings of this study can pave the way for public library administrators, and librarians to provide better services to this group of society.

This study was conducted with the aim of understanding the needs of the Visually Impaired in the Visually Impaired Department of the National Library and Archives of Iran.

The present study is qualitative that was conducted by content analysis method with inductive approach. The data collection tool was a semi-structured interview. Sampling went so far as to saturate the data and no new data was extracted from the interviews. The interview was saturated with 10 visually impaired who had experience using the services of the visually impaired Department. 132 initial codes (2 main themes and 12 sub-themes) were extracted from the interviews. Guba and Lincoln criteria (Credibility, Dependability, Confirmability and Transferability) were used for data robustness and accuracy. Maxqda software version 20 was used for data analysis.

The analysis of the interviews about the participants' experience in using the services of the visually impaired Department of the National Library of Iran was summarized in two general themes: "Problems and Limitations" and "Suggestions for Improving the Services". The 7 sub-themes related to the “limitations and problems” reported by users with visually impaired were: paths and environmental guides, path insecurity, visually impaired independence, special tools for the visually impaired, facilities, environmental conditions of the visually impaired hall (librarian position and hall environmental conditions), and marketing services. People with visually impaired offered suggestions for improving the the services, which were in 5 sub-themes: education, resources, online services, strengthening special facilities, and strengthening voluntary facilities.

The results showed that visually impaired have several problems and limitations in using the services of the visually impaired Department of the National Library and Archives of Iran. Considering that this library is the mother library in the country, it is better for the library staff to follow-up to remove the current restrictions and by continuously evaluating their information needs, redesigning and arranging facilities, reviewing signs and environmental guides, Special facilities, development programs, equipment procurement and marketing programs, take steps to improve the library services for the visually impaired.

The present study was conducted with the aim of explaining library services to the blind and visually impaired and providing suggested solutions to public libraries in Iran.

This research is an applied research in terms of nature and purpose and was conducted with using a survey method. The research population consisted of librarians and managers of 46 public libraries under the auspices of the Public Libraries of the Country, which had a section for the blind and visually impaired and their special services. The data collection tools were two questionnaires designed by the researchers, the first for librarians in the mentioned section, and the other for the managers of these libraries, based on the standard of public library services for the blind and visually-impaired compiled by the Public Libraries Foundation in 2016. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data.

The findings of compare mean statistical hypothesis test, considering the fact that the significance level is less than 0.05 and the confidence interval of the difference for the variables of "special services for the blind and visually impaired, the status of information resources and the status of manpower working in public libraries in Iran" are positive, these variables follow the standard level more than the average. Moreover, for the variables of "building, equipment, hardware and software for the blind and visually impaired in public libraries of Iran", the significance level is less than 0.05 and the negative ranges of the mean difference demonstrate that these variables follow the standard level less than the average.

Based on the research findings, there is a need for more compliance with the standard under review, especially in the field of construction and equipment. It seems that in addition to the development of the standard, the executive guarantee of the implementation of the standard by the public libraries of the country is necessary and will help in improving services to the blind and visually impaired.

Disability is a biosocial reality that is defined as an obstacle to a person’s ability in doing an activity in a natural position. People with disabilities are the largest minority in the international community, and more than two-thirds of the world’s disabled people are living in developing countries. The present study aimed to identify and prioritize the most important needs of the disabled in order to design and plan suitable services for Iranian public libraries.

The present research is an applied study in terms of purpose, a descriptive-analytical one in terms of nature, and a survey in terms of the method of implementation, and was conducted during a particular period. The statistical population of this study consisted of all physically disabled, blind and visually impaired, deaf and hard of hearing people aged 15 and over 15 who were under the auspices of the Welfare Organization. Using sample power software, the sample population for every group of disabled consists of 82 people that were selected by multi-stage cluster sampling among 10 provinces of Iran. The data gathering tool was 3 researcher-made questionnaires which were used in two print (paper) and online formats. Two questionnaires related to the deaf and physically disabled, in addition to the paper questionnaire, were designed in the online format using WordPress. The questionnaire for the blind was designed by Google Form due to the need to coordinate with screen reader software. To analyze data, SPSS version 23 was used.

Friedman statistical test was used to rank the needs. The result of the study showed that expert librarians with proper behaviors, having Elevator or Lift if the library is multi-storey building, and supporting the need of disabled by managers and other responsible people were the most important needs for physically disabled persons. In the blind and visually impaired group, having elevator with a braille button if the library is multi-storey building, allocating suitable budget for providing related resources and providing access to full catalogs of audiobooks in Iranian public libraries via the Internet, were in the top priorities. Among the deaf and hard of hearing people, holding group programs and recreational trips, presence of translators familiar with sign language skills and holding sign language classes were among the top third high-priority needs.

Up till now, no research has been conducted on a population as wide-ranging as the population of this research to consider diverse needs of three groups of the disabled. Public libraries can help empower the disabled people and provide them with equal access to information by considering various needs of them, thus providing a better life conditions for them.