Inclusive University Library: learning and researching environment for users with disabilities

Abstract

Over the centuries, people with disabilities as been trailing a intricated path, marked by prejudice, segregation and a bad welfares assistance. Nowadays the differences has gained dignity and respect, legal support and positive reception to their specificities. If every human being is unique in the universe, with different fingerprint, voice, and so many other aspects that confer their own identity to each individual, there is no reason to discriminate and isolate people with disability from the global context, as if they were second-class citizens. This article aims to contextualize the implementation of Accessibility Laboratory (LAB) in the Cesar Lattes Central Library at the University of Campinas (UNICAMP) as a living and inclusive organization in a continuous transformation..

The methodology used for the implementation of the AL of CLCL was based on exploratory study both in literature and in the identification and quantification of users with disabilities and their information needs (internal and external); in preparing projects for funding from development agencies; the survey and observation of the laws governing the rights of access to information for citizens; the identification and prioritization of Assistive Technology (AT) that establish mediation between the information and the user with disabilities, be it visual, hearing or physical; testing and acquisition of AT allocated in AL; training of human resources of the library; establishing partnerships with teachers, researchers, staff, scholarship students from different departments and areas of the university, similar institutions, NGOs and software vendors, bibliographic materials and equipment. The results obtained with the implementation of the LAB at BCCL, has been immense, transforming the library into an inclusive learning and research space.