Provision of library services to visually impaired persons in Central University Libraries of North India

The paper examines provision of library and information services to the visually impaired persons in Central University libraries of North India. It looks into the various issues that are involved in the provision of library and information services to the visually impaired students in the libraries. The study employed survey method of research and data was collected from chief librarians of six central university libraries namely, Jamia Millia Islamia, Jawaharlal Nehru University, University of Delhi, Aligarh Muslim University, Banaras Hindu University and Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University by using a structured questionnaire. Findings revealed that all the libraries have provision of services to visually impaired persons but there is a lack of dedicated budget and accessibility policy for such users in the libraries. Aligarh Muslim University Library has the highest collection of braille books and daisy books followed by Delhi University library. Services such as audio book recording, transcription service and scanning assistance are available in most of the libraries. Further, it is revealed that the libraries of JNU and BBAU are fully accessible to the visually impaired persons, while the other university libraries lack some such arrangements. However basic facilities such as ramps and accessible washrooms are available in all the libraries. The study also revealed the barriers faced by the librarians in providing the special services to visually impaired persons. It is found that inadequate funds is the major barrier in provision of library services to visually impaired persons followed by the lack of reading materials in accessible format and lack of trained staff to serve such users.