Utilization of Assistive Technologies by Visually Impaired Students for Effective Information Access in Selected Federal University Libraries in South-South, Nigeria

The study investigated the utilization of assistive technologies (ATs) for effective information access by visually impaired students of federal university libraries in South-South, Nigeria. Three specific objectives and corresponding research questions were formulated to determine the assistive technologies used in accessing information by the visually impaired that are available, the extent to which the visually impaired utilize adaptive technologies, the methods the visually impaired utilize adaptive technologies, competencies of the visually impaired in the use of available assistive technologies, extent to which assistive technologies contribute to effective information access of the visually impaired, and strategies for enhancing the utilization of adaptive technologies for effective information access by visually impaired in the libraries. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. The population of the study is 205, which consists of 197 visually impaired students and 8 library staff in charge of special library units from four universities under study. A purposive sampling technique was used to draw a sample size of visually impaired users from the population. Focus group discussion sessions, Interview schedules and an observation checklist were the instruments used for data collection which were faced validated by three experts. Descriptive Content analysis was used, thematically on the narratives of the respondents, 106 visually impaired users attended the FGD session, 8 library staff were interviewed and tables with percentages (%) were used to analyze the observation checklist. The challenges associated with the utilization of assistive technologies for effective information access include lack of power supply, inadequate funding by the parents’ institutions and the unruly attitude of some library staff among others.  Similarly, all the suggested strategies for improving on the challenges were submitted. The major findings revealed that UNICAL has the highest percentage of ATs that are available and functional, while UNIBEN and UNIUYO have the least percentage of ATs that are available and functional, The FGD participants narrated that the extent of their usage is dependent on their level of exposure to it, the method used in utilizing ATs are traditionally based ATs and ICT- based ATs and the Visually impaired students also revealed that ATs enabled them to be independent readers. It was recommended that (i) there should be more campaigns to create awareness on the contributory role of ATs to the visually impaired students of university libraries and also sensitize the staff manning the special library of the inalienable rights of the visually impaired to access information effectively in university libraries to extend the library hours  (ii) there should be constant training and re-training of staff to upgrade their ICT skills and to have more capable hands on deck in handling the information needs of the visually impaired students (iii) universities should provide effective and adequate ICT infrastructures such as computers, and constant power supply and above all information resources should be provided in alternate formats for the visually impaired. These strategies will go a long way in improving the utilization of adaptive technologies for effective information access by visually impaired users of federal university libraries in South-South, Nigeria.