ICT for access to information services for disabled people: an overview of projects and services at Gateshead Libraries Service

C.E. Myhill (Gateshead Libraries, Arts and Information, UK), Program: electronic library & information systems, 2002, Vol. 36 No. 3, pp. 176-81

Providing access to information for all users, irrespective of their physical disabilities, is a requirement for all libraries and ICT can be used to assist this. The case study describes a range of projects and services that have been developed by Gateshead Libraries using ICT to enable disabled people to gain access to information. These projects range from AIRS (which started with the production of a talking newspaper in 1987), to MISSISSIPPI (which uses videotelephony for sign language communication for deaf people) to the Web accessibility guidelines used for the Gateshead Grid for Learning.

Keyword(s): Disabled people, Internet, Information technology, Library services