Adaptive Technology for Supporting Persons with Disability in selected Public Academic Libraries in Ghana

ABSTRACT This study was to examine the barriers to access and availability of adaptive technologies in supporting Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) in public academic libraries in Ghana. The study adopted the qualitative research design. The University of Cape Coast Library and the University of Ghana library were purposively selected and interview guides were used for data collection. A total of 20 respondents were selected and the interviews targeted 16 students with disabilities using the snowball approach, the 2 Librarians, and the 2 heads of the unit in the library that catered students with special needs. The thematic content analysis was used to analyse the data. The study revealed that there is some form of adaptive technologies that aided PWDs to access some services in the library, a special unit dedicated to serving the needs of PWDs, and there were dedicated staff that served their needs. Nonetheless, the adaptive technologies that were needed to access the libraries\u27 built environment, as well as library services, were woefully inadequate to afford the persons with disabilities independent life in the library environment. The study recommends that the Librarians should be consulted in the architectural designs and provision of adaptive technologies such as computers with all the necessary software and ensuring that facilities are in good working condition