A survey of the Iranian public library services to the disabled

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.