Library Facilities and Services for Differently Abled Students in Universities of Karnataka: A Study

Purpose – In Karnataka, there are considerable number of differently abled persons, who are studying in various educational institutions. It has been observed that some of the educational institutions provided with suitable access facilities in Libraries to the disabled, but majority of them are devoid of this facility. In this article, an attempt has been made to study on the facilities being provided to the disabled users in some of the University Libraries of Karnataka. The facilities being provided are briefed under 3 major categories – (1) Access to resources, (2) Physical access to library building, and (3) Services and communications. Design/Methodology/Approach – Questionnaire method has been adopted to collect data from identified 21 Universities in India. Responses received from the Libraries have been analysed and presented. Findings – The findings are presented under above mentioned 3 major categories in the body of the article. Originality/Value – The present work is original in nature. The study will be useful to the disabled to understand on the facilities available for them in the selected Universities of Karnataka