According to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, libraries as public institutions are obliged to implement accessibility and inclusion. This is a real challenge, but also an opportunity. Access to information, knowledge, and reading enable and support persons with disabilities to live independently and participate fully and equally in society.

These guidelines are a revision of the Access to Libraries for Persons with Disabilities Checklist, published in 2005. They have been developed by an international working group and experts under the responsibility of the Library Services to People with Special Needs Section (LSN), in cooperation with the Libraries Serving People With Print Disabilities Section.

The updated guidelines have been sent to IFLA for approval in Spring, 2023.

Editors:

Julie Ann Winkelstein (University of Tennessee, USA) and Nancy Bolt (Nancy Bolt & Associates, Denver, Colorado, USA)

Working Group Members:

  • Misako Nomura (Assistive Technology Development Organization, Japan)
  • Heidi Carlsson Asplund (librarian, Sweden)
  • Nancy Bolt (Nancy Bolt & Associates, USA)
  • Julie Ann Winkelstein (University of Tennessee, USA)

Contributors:

  • Anne Sieberns (Germam Institute for Human Rights, Germany)
  • Dalia Balčytytė (Lithuanian Library for the Blind, Lithuania)
  • Dolores Carungui (National Library of the Philippines, Philippines)
  • Man Yi Helen Chan (University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong)
  • Maela Rakocevic Uvodic (The City Library of Zagreb, Croatia)
  • Ingrid Källström (Swedish Agency for Accessible Media, Sweden)
  • Saskia Boets (Luisterpunt Bibliotheek, Belgium)
  • Katrin Strindevall (University of Gothenburg, Sweden)
  • Knut Michael Nygaard (University of South-Eastern, Norway)
  • Jessica Barowitz (University of North Texas, USA)