The Central Public Library's services for persons with special needs

Abstract

This study concerns the section stationed at the Central Public Library of Floriana. The section recently known as the 'Talking books for the Visually Impaired and the Special Needs' provides various types of reading services to persons with special needs. The study involves a number of interviews to help us identify the different responsibilities each person has. Other interviews were undertaken to shed more light on the history of its services. Questionnaires were provided to the clients of the section to help us with the information needed to acquire a detailed opinion of the user. We contacted foreign public libraries to evaluate their system of how they provide a service to persons with special needs. We also reviewed some parliamentary questions, which came up during the past years to see what improvements have been developed since. After a brief introduction, which consists of the methodology used for this study, the first chapter is about the history of the Special Needs Section and how it came about to this day. The second chapter is about the literature search we have studied whilst the third chapter deals about an analysis of the questionnaires we have provided. The last chapter describes the weak points the section has and recommendations for the future.