Libraries Learning From Each Other
By Jelena Lesaja, Croatian Library for the Blind
Library Services for People with Dyslexia: Danish Approach
Description
The main purpose of Jelena Lesaja’s visit to Nota, the Danish national library for persons with print disabilities, was to learn what services for the dyslexic users can a library for people with print disabilities offer. Also, to understand the basics of Danish approach to dyslexia and finally to see if and how the Croatian Library for the Blind can implement some of the ideas and solutions introduced.
Background
The Croatian Library for the Blind offers library services for people with print disabilities.
Besides the regular library and publishing services, the library organizes various events and workshops. Our primary users are blind and partially sighted people, but we also have a small though constantly growing number of users, mostly children, and youngsters, with dyslexia that find talking books very useful.
Outcome of the visit
Nota and the Croatian Library for the Blind have the same mission in the society and vision of equal access to knowledge. Both libraries are under the domain of the Ministry of Culture, and their primary role is to produce and lend out the library materials in a format suitable for people with print disabilities.
Nota has more than three times more employees (including an IT team and a designer), freelance narrators, studios and technical support and it serves ten times more users. The Croatian library has a higher percentage of blind/partially sighted employees. Nota has a strong structured process of production and fascinating outcomes.
Although they function in a different way, both libraries are well organized considering their capacities and, yes, good spirited.
Croatian library functions on the basis of lending out and returning library items and has holdings, whereas Nota’s library holdings are digital and users don’t have to return the items received, as well as they can live stream and download them.
Not having library holdings, and lending out without returning, without being restricted to the number of titles physically present on the shelves, makes working less stressful and time-consuming and more production oriented and opened for new ideas. But on the other hand, having users physically present in the library, being able to collaborate with them daily and prepare all kinds of little events is also very rewarding.
Source: Ulverscoft Foundation