Assistive Technologies as a Search Tool for the Demanded Profile of Special Library

Digital transformation of the modern world requires any person, including people with partial or complete vision loss, to have new competencies in organizing their own lives. The share of high-tech services is growing in almost all areas of library and information activities.

The process of inclusion of visually impaired people in the world of new opportunities is directly related to the formation of the image of socially active special library. The author analyzes the management decisions and development of the Novosibirsk Regional Special Library for the Blind and Visually Impaired as a consumer and participant of the intersectoral and interdepartmental market of rehabilitation industry products. The article reveals the role of assistive (auxiliary) technologies in the expansion of a number of educational services for the interested social and professional groups of the population.

The empirical basis of the article is the results of the information and applied development of the assistive technology sphere by the specialists of the Novosibirsk Regional Special Library for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Various social, technical, regulatory and economic aspects have defined the development of the institution over a long period of time. The interdisciplinary nature of the proposed method involves the use of advanced assistive technologies as the basis for expanding the services of special library.

The article considers the proactive approach that takes into account the priorities of the readership as an actual and effective way to develop a system of special library and information services. The author proposes and approves as innovation the idea of using the achievements of the related field of activity — accessibility technologies. Educational and training activities of the library in this context become a targeted tool for informing and motivating specialists of various branches. The article shows the need for additional efforts to organize and coordinate the work in the conditions of different levels of competence of specialists. Advanced development of assistive technologies allows expanding the range of users.

1. Suchkova L.V. Organizatsiya, osobennosti i perspektivy ispol’zovaniya “govoryashchei” knigi v bibliotechnom obsluzhivanii nezryachikh (na primere raboty spetsial’nykh bibliotek RSFSR dlya slepykh) [Organization, Features and Prospects of Using the “Talking” Book in Library Services for the Blind (On the Example of the Work of the RSFSR Special Libraries for the Blind)], cand. ped. sci. diss. abstr. Moscow, 1990, 16 p.

2. Verzhbitsky A.V. Metodika zapisi uchebnoi i nauchnoi “govoryashchei” knigi [Methods of Recording Educational and Scientific “Talking” Books]. Moscow, Vserossiiskoe Obshchestvo Slepykh Publ., 1983, 103 p.

3. Lapshin A.I. All Twenty Years... Nasha zhizn’ [Our Life], 1978, no. 6, pp. 12—14 (in Russ.).

4. Genieva E.Yu., Krepkova E.L. Changing the Information Sector’s Structure: Libraries and New Technologies, Biblioteki za rubezhom: sbornik [Libraries Abroad: collection]. Moscow, Rudomino Publ., 1998, pp. 128—143 (in Russ.).

5. Krepkova E.L. Disclosing the Information Potential of Libraries through New Technologies Used in the Internet, Biblioteki za rubezhom: sbornik [Libraries Abroad: collection]. Moscow, Rudomino Publ., 1998, pp. 136—143 (in Russ.).

6. Boucher P. Assistive Technologies for People with Disabilities. In-Depth Analysis. Brussels, European Union Publ., 2018, 20 p. DOI: 10.2861/422217.

7. Lesnevsky Yu.Yu. Resources of Special Libraries in Information Support of Rehabilitation Services, Biblioteki i assotsiatsii v menyayushchemsya mire: novye tekhnologii i novye formy sotrudnichestva: materialy konferentsii [Libraries and Associations in the Transient World: New Technologies and New Forms of Cooperation: conference proceedings]. Moscow, 1998, vol. 2, p. 596 (in Russ.).

8. Royan B., Cremer M. Rukovodstvo po audiovizual’nym i mul’timediinym dokumentam dlya bibliotek i drugikh organizatsii [Guidelines for Audiovisual and Multimedia Materials in Libraries and Other Institutions]. Hague, 2005, 21 p. Available at: https://www.ifla.org/files/assets/hq/publications/professional-report/88.pdf (accessed 09.03.2021).

9. Lesnevsky Yu.Yu. Accessible Higher Education as a Field of Information Cooperation, Tezisy Rossiisko-Frantsuzskoi konferentsii “Dostupnoe obrazovanie vysokogo urovnya” (16—18 iyunya 2003 g.) [Abstracts of the Russian-French Conference “Accessible High-Level Education” (June 16—18, 2003)]. Novosibirsk, Novosibirskii Gosudarstvennyi Universitet Publ., 2003, pp. 1—37 (in Russ.).

10. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Adopted by UN General Assembly Resolution 61/106 of December 13, 2006, OON: ofits. sait [UN: official website]. Available at: https://www.un.org/ru/documents/decl_conv/conventions/disability.shtml (accessed 09.03.2021) (in Russ.).

11. Pilling S. Cooperation and Partnership in the National Library Context: With Special Reference to the British Library, Alexandria, 2001, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 35—42.

12. Lesnevsky Yu.Yu. Manifestation of the Social Context of the Partnership Activities of Libraries Serving People with Disabilities: Dialogue, Image, Recognition, Authority, Biblioteki, obsluzhivayushchie lyudei s ogranicheniyami zhiznedeyatel’nosti, i obshchestvennyi sektor na puti k sotsial’nomu partnerstvu: materialy mezhdunarodnoi nauchno-prakticheskoi konferentsii [Libraries Serving People with Disabilities, and the Public Sector on the Way to Social Partnership: Proceedings of the International Scientific and Practical Conference]. Novosibirsk, Novosibirskaya Gosudarstvennaya Oblastnaya Nauchnaya Biblioteka Publ., 2002, pp. 19—23 (in Russ.).

13. Andryukhina Yu.N. Razrabotka metodiki sozdaniya taktil’nykh kart s primeneniem geoinformatsionnykh sistem i additivnykh tekhnologii [Development of Methods for Creating Tactile Maps Using Geoinformation Systems and Additive Technologies], cand. tech. sci. diss. Novosibirsk, 2019, 139 p.

14. Lesnevsky Yu.Yu. Unification and Standardization — Necessary Components for the Development of an Adaptive Information Environment, Dostupnaya sreda [Accessible Environment], 2020, no. 1 (1), pp. 54—62 (in Russ.).

15. Kawamura H. DAISY and Accessibility for Knowledge, Elektronnye resursy i nezryachie pol’zovateli: sbornik statei zarubezhnykh avtorov [Electronic Resources and Blind Users: collected articles by foreign authors]. St. Petersburg, 2012, pp. 3—15 (in Russ.).

16. Lesnevsky Yu.Yu., Vikhman O.A. A New Technological Platform for Providing Assistive Information Library Services in the Digital Sphere, Internet-tekhnologii v obsluzhivanii nezryachikh pol’zovatelei: sbornik statei po materialam Obshcherossiiskoi internet-konferentsii [Internet Technologies in Services for Blind Users: Collected Articles Based on the Proceedings of the All-Russian Internet Conference]. Moscow, 2019, pp. 43—49 (in Russ.).

17. Vikhman O.A. “Environment without Borders” Information System of Polling Stations, Obespechenie izbiratel’nykh prav grazhdan Rossiiskoi Federatsii, yavlyayushchikhsya invalidami: praktika raboty na territorii Novosibirskoi oblasti [Ensuring the Electoral Rights of Citizens of the Russian Federation with Disabilities: The Practice of Working in the Novosibirsk Region]. Novosibirsk, 2019, pp. 53—57 (in Russ.).

18. Lesnevsky Yu.Yu. The House of Adaptive Culture: At the Crossroads of Access and Service, “Osobyi posetitel’” v uchrezhdeniyakh kul’tury: inklyuzivnye praktiki kak innovatsionnaya deyatel’nost’: sbornik po itogam Vserossiiskoi nauchno-prakticheskoi konferentsii, 7 iyunya 2019 g. [The “Special Visitor” in Cultural Institutions: Inclusive Practices as Innovative Activities: Collected Results of the All-Russian Scientific and Practical Conference, June 7, 2019]. Moscow, 2019, pp. 43—48 (in Russ.).

19. Gatchalian C. Assistive Technologies in the 21st Century, Power R. Technology and the Curriculum: Summer 2019. Lethbridge, Power Learning Solutions Publ., 2019, pp. 373—386. Available at: https://techandcurr2019.pressbooks.com/chapter/21st-century-assistive-tech/ (accessed 09.03.2021).