Abstract

The National Library Board’s existing network of public libraries has made some headway in designing some services and programmes for persons with disabilities (PwD) in the past years. For PwD who may not be able to travel to a public library, NLB engages volunteers to select books and deliver them to their homes. MOLLY, the mobile library bus, visits the special education schools so that PwD get the opportunity to visit the library, browse and borrow books, as well as experience storytelling sessions. More recently, there have been programmes to raise awareness of the different disabilities to the public such as a baby lapsit programme that was modified to cater to children with autism and their caregivers. Adults with autism have also been empowered to digitise materials for the National Library. NLB has employed PwD as service partners and they played an active role in the digitisation NLB content to make the content more accessible.

Despite all the above, more can and should be done to make PwD feel welcomed in the public libraries, so that both PwD and neurotypical users may co-exist, interacting with each other, building an inclusive culture.

The setting up of Punggol Regional Library (PRL), scheduled to be reading in 2021, presents NLB with the opportunity to develop a more inclusive library for children with disabilities. Located in north-eastern part of Singapore, it is a young residential town with an estimated population size of 360,000, characterised by a high number of young families with young children. Based on the International Federation of Library Associations’ (IFLA) guidelines for Children’s Library Services, a full-fledged children’s library would comprise services to diverse groups. NLB is taking stock of the existing services for people with disabilities with plans to strengthen space design, programmes, services and collection at PRL. Riding on the design thinking methodology to ensure human-centered design, NLB embarks on user research to understand the needs of the children with disabilities, their caregivers and the professionals serving this group. Lastly, NLB does not work alone, but works hand in hand with the community to bring in resources to help NLB achieve the vision of an inclusive library.

The paper will cover NLB’s existing suite of services for people with disabilities, and focus on the learning points from a pilot to develop an inclusive programme in a public library, and, preliminary findings from the user research done in early 2018 that will shape the development of the inclusive library at PRL.

Biography

Verena Lee is a library planner, designing spaces for new libraries, integrating service and design for library users from all walks of life. Previously, she spent five years serving communities in various public libraries in Singapore, and another five years on developing services and content to promote reading in primary and secondary schools. She is currently serving in the Standing Committee in the School Libraries Section of IFLA.