University libraries: The role of an accessible campus on the inclusion of users with special needs

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to present preliminary results of an ongoing research that seeks to diagnose inclusive practices in Brazilian and Portuguese university libraries, particularly in what concerns to the role of an accessible campus on the inclusion of users with special needs. The results were collected through an online questionnaire applied to 87 library directors (54 Brazilian and 33 Portuguese). Fifty valid answers were collected (28 Brazilian and 22 Portuguese).The results allowed to identify accessibility issues, namely in what regards to the access to the campus and to the lack of teams of librarians with specific skills to aid and assist these users. We conclude that many of these libraries are integrated in campuses without accessible infrastructure, and therefore, are not able to promote the inclusion of the students with special needs. Respondents say they are aware of their limitations and weaknesses when facing this challenge and show openness to change their practices and attitudes towards a new future scenario in which they could build solutions to improve the accessibility and inclusion in these libraries.