Deaf people and libraries ‐ should there be special considerations? Part 1: traditional services

Abstract

Reports on findings of a study of North‐West libraries and their service provision to the deaf and hard of hearing. Part 1 reports on current thoughts within the library profession and developments in staff training, the improvement and promotion of stock, and user education. A second article will report on material and technological developments such as minicom and building adaptations. Throughout, a sensitivity to the range of needs within the deaf community is encouraged, as is the need to make service initiatives ‐ at least for the more traditional library services ‐ reliant not on the keenness of key staff but on policy decisions. Action is being taken ‐ staff in 88 per cent of public libraries and 17 per cent of academic libraries had undergone deaf awareness training, stocks of relevance to learning British Sign Language and about deaf culture are being acquired, and libraries are promoting subtitled and closed‐captioned videos.

Citation

Jeal, Y., de Paul Roper, V. and Ansell, E. (1996), "Deaf people and libraries ‐ should there be special considerations? Part 1: traditional services", New Library World, Vol. 97 No. 1, pp. 12-21. https://doi.org/10.1108/03074809610105600