ABSTRACT
This study was to investigate the adaptive equipment for supporting handicapped persons in library environment. The instrument used for data collection was questionnaire, which was developed and administered to 20 handicapped students from the University of Benin in Ovia North East local government area of Edo state. The data from their responses were analyzed with the use of simple percentage.
The result revealed that the John Harris library lacks adaptive equipment for handicapped students. None of the various types of adaptive equipment are available for use by handicapped students. Handicapped students do not use screen readers or text-to-speech software in the library, adaptive technology like magnification software is not used by handicapped students in the library, many handicapped students do not use adjustable-height tables and chairs in the library. Furthermore, the John Harris library do not provide handicapped students with adaptive equipment therefore, there’s no equipment found in the library to be maintained.
It is therefore recommended that Library administration and finance departments should develop a sustainable financial plan for acquiring, maintaining, and replacing adaptive equipment, Libraries staff and administration should initiate public awareness campaigns about the availability of adaptive equipment, Library management should provide comprehensive training for their staff on the usage and maintenance of adaptive equipment, Libraries should establish a feedback mechanism to collect input from handicapped library users regarding their experiences with adaptive equipment.
