Informational Accessibility for people with functional diversity in Spanish university libraries

Abstract

The article analyzes the situation of informational accessibility for people with functional diversity in Spanish university libraries today. Through a documentary research, the review of the scientific literature, the analysis of the regulations and the exploration of statistics are used to present the essential concepts and the status of application in the centers. The results obtained indicate that: there is an open conceptual debate; the disability model used by the Spanish Administration is very restrictive; there is a lot of legislation on disability, but with few resources; there is a gap between students without disabilities and students with disabilities; the Spanish university is increasingly involved with the diversity of its community; and the university library is developing great changes and is adapting to new demands. It is concluded that Spanish university libraries can play a relevant role for their community in order to exercise the rights to education and information, but they need to develop informational accessibility and web accessibility policies regarding their collections, resources and services.