jan05b.indd


Vincent P. Tinerella and Marcia A. Dick 

Academic
reference
service
for
the


visually
impaired


A guide for the non-specialist 

On a typical day, the staff working the information desk at Northern Illinois 
University’s (NIU) Founders Memorial Li­
brary will handle approximately 150 inqui­
ries by telephone and in person, ranging 
from simple directional questions to more 
complicated ones requiring evaluation and 
specialized skills. More often than not, the 
patron will be assisted by David Kuhn, a 
visually impaired student, or someone like 
Kuhn—a special­needs student hired and 
trained for the specific job of fi elding patron 
questions, providing an answer if possible, 
or forwarding the inquiry to an appropriate 
library department or staff specialist. 

Founders Library began hiring students 
with disabilities in the early 1990s as one 
method of enhancing the undergraduate 
experience of the university’s special­needs 
students. The library positions provide them 
with the opportunity to gain meaningful em­
ployment, work experience, job references, 
and every consideration any academic intern 
can reasonably expect. 

Students with special needs like Kuhn are 
enrolling in the nation’s colleges and univer­
sities at a rapidly increasing rate. Nearly all 
(98 percent) four­year public, postsecondary 
schools and 63 percent of private, four­year 
institutions enroll students with disabilities, 
accounting overall for three­quarters of the 
nation’s four­year colleges and universities. 
According to the most recent survey conduct­
ed by the U.S. Department of Education, about 
6 percent of all undergraduates attending 
postsecondary programs in the United States 

declared some type of disability or health­
related limitation, and, of this number, 16 
percent reported having a vision impairment. 
Most institutions have met this challenge by 
making substantial support services available 
to help students with disabilities, although it 
should be noted that accommodations vary 
widely from institution to institution. 

NIU’s library for students with 
disabilities program 
NIU, like many schools of higher learning, 
has made an institutional decision to go be­
yond meeting the basic antidiscriminatory 
requirements of the Americans with Disabili­
ties Act (ADA; 1990, PL 101­336) by creating 
and implementing a fl exible, comprehensive 
program designed to help students with lim­
itations, tailoring the assistance provided to 
individual students based on each student’s 
particular special need. Hiring visually im­
paired student workers is just one example 
of the school’s university­wide commitment 
to full participation and equality of oppor­
tunity, and it is an integral part of the Uni­
versity Libraries Services for Persons with 
Disabilities Program, developed in the early 
1980s. NIU’s program customizes its services 
to meet the individual needs of its students, 
and its staff serves as liaisons between the 

Vincent P. Tinerella is coordinator of electronic reference 
services, e-mail: vtinerella@niu.edu and Marcia Dick is 
coordinator of services for persons with disabilities at 
University Libraries, Northern Illinois University, e-mail: 
mdick@niu.edu 
© 2005 Vincent P. Tinerella and Marcia Dick 

January 2005  29 C&RL News 

mailto:mdick@niu.edu
mailto:vtinerella@niu.edu


library and the university’s academic depart­
ments. The program, moreover, has made 
a commitment to acquiring specialized soft­
ware and equipment and in assisting its 
visually impaired students to use these re­
sources so they can become more self­suf­
fi cient researchers. 

A changing reference environment 
At the same time colleges and universities 
are becoming more inclusive for students 
with special needs, profound changes have 
made reference and information services 
steadily more technical and specialized. NIU 
is representative of most colleges and uni­
versities in the United States. Founders Me­
morial Library has made a commitment to 
acquiring specialized online databases and 
reference sources. The library has, moreover, 
implemented an extensive bibliographic in­
struction program to support the university’s 
mission of teaching, research, and service, 
and to assist its undergraduates in obtain­
ing the skills necessary to navigate this new, 
more complex reference environment. The 
library’s Web site provides 156 research da­
tabases that can be searched remotely using 
EZ Proxy. Since 1997, the number of hits on 
the library’s Web site have increased from 
an average of 34,650 per month to 730,020 
in 2002. Computer terminals in the building 
have increased from 196 to 368, and librar­
ians collectively answer more than 150,000 
queries from patrons annually. 

Despite the university’s best efforts, many 
undergraduates find the number of reference 
sources, materials, and sheer glut of informa­
tion confusing, as most anyone involved in 
reference and bibliographic instruction can 
attest. Subject­specific databases, full­text 
and full­image availability, networked print­
ing, a myriad of interfaces, and a whole host 
of other technological advancements have 
made database and online catalog searching 
problematic for many students. For a visually 
impaired student who must adapt resources 
and rely on adaptive technologies to process 
information, finding research materials is an 
even more daunting, confusing, time­consum­

ing process that will become increasingly 
more complicated as the academic reference 
environment continues to evolve. 

Adaptive technologies 
Visual impairment can include color blind­
ness, tunnel vision, the inability to read stan­
dard print, peripheral vision, a combination 
of vision problems, and the inability to re­
ceive any visual clues. The common traits 
among visually impaired students is that 
they have difficulty reading or are unable to 
read text in print or on a computer screen, 
must rely on auditory or tactile signals to 
process information, or are dependent on 
a variety of adaptive technologies to access 
resources. Adaptive aids are devices and 
tools that have been adapted to enable visu­
ally impaired students to perform sight­re­
lated tasks independently, and are generally 
classified as optical (those that improve the 
device or object, magnification and the like) 
and non­optical (those that alter the envi­
ronment, rather than the object, including 
illumination, light transmission, refl ection 
control, contrast, and others). 

Adaptive aids are constantly evolving and 
seem to be limited only by the imagination. 
The more common tools designed to broaden 
access for students with vision problems 
include: 

• electro­optical devices, such as optical 
character recognition and screen­magnifi ca­
tion utilities; 

• magnifi cation software; 
• closed­circuit television; 
• visual imaging processors; 
• scanners; 
• low­vision reading systems; 
• written communication adaptive de­

vices, such as large­type keyboards and 
typewriters; 

• sensory substitution devices, among 
them talking books and calculators, audio 
recordings, speech synthesizers, speech 
compressors, auditory labelers, and reading 
machines; 

• Braille readers, writers, keyboards, and 
displays; 

C&RL News January 2005  30 



• relative size devices that enlarge print, 
symbols, and other items; 

• low­vision optical devices, including 
spectacles, hand and stand magnifi ers, and 
telescopic and absorptive UV lenses; 

• lighting, glare, contrast, and color de­
vices; and 

• large­print books and journals. 

A diffi  cult process 
Because most reference sources appear in 
print and must be transformed into audio 
or tactile forms, visually impaired students 
learn that they must depend to a large ex­
tent on support networks to assist them. 
While many universities have made a com­
mendable effort in providing resources and 
making adaptive technology available, few 
librarians have been trained to provide ref­
erence services for the visually impaired or 
have any experience or skill operating adap­
tive aids and software. 

Dawn, a visually impaired student, ex­
plained some of these diffi culties, relating 
that while most of her classmates were able 
to use the time between classes productively 
to study or conduct research, she and her 
colleagues were required to physically visit 
the adaptive lab because that was the only 
place in the library that had the devices and 
software they needed to see and to adapt 
resources. As a result, Dawn felt she had 
to plan her research visits well in advance 
because the specialized study room might 
not be open, the disability specialist might 
be unavailable to assist her, or the particular 
piece of adaptive equipment she needed 
might be in use. 

Recommendations for librarians 
Visually impaired students who have dem­
onstrated the courage, independence, and 
motivation to embark on the responsibility 
of becoming college students should expect 
that their schools will provide them with ev­
ery opportunity to achieve success. Thus, it 
is vital to create a welcoming atmosphere 
in the academic library, one in which stu­
dents with vision problems are confi dent 

Visually impaired students who 
have demonstrated the courage, 
independence, and motivation to 
embark on the responsibility of 
becoming college students should 
expect that their schools will provide 
them with every opportunity to achieve 
success. 

that they can ask for assistance, whether or 
not a specialist is available, or whether or 
not a particular adaptive resource is in use 
or unavailable. With a few low­cost accom­
modations, academic librarians and library 
administrators can provide the best research 
support possible for their visually impaired 
students. Individual librarians can: 

• act naturally, it is important not to over­
compensate; 

• realize that, like all students, people 
with visual impairments are unique, and 
each student will require individual levels of 
service; 

• realize that a person may have a vi­
sual impairment that is not obvious and be 
prepared to offer assistance if asked, for 
example, by reading to the student; 

• talk directly to the student; 
• inform the student of their presence (Say 

hello and offer to help. Do not automatically 
assume the person needs or wants help); 

• offer an arm if a student needs to be 
guided, rather than taking his or her arm. 
(The blind need their arms for balance. Be 
specific if warning about an obstruction); 

• let students know if you must leave for 
any reason, and be sure to leave them at a 
landmark—a desk, wall, or table; 

• introduce others if in a group; 
• never ask a student directly about a 

disability; 
• be patient, most things will take lon­

ger; 
• never pet or disturb a guide dog (The 

dog is working and must concentrate. Walk 
on the side opposite the dog); 

• be very specific when giving direc­
tions; 

January 2005  31 C&RL News 



• let the student know when discontinu­
ing a conversation; 

• offer to do small tasks not ordinarily 
considered for a sighted student—retrieve a 
book, make a photocopy, or print a journal 
article; 

• if a subject specialist or a bibliographer, 
offer to act as a liaison with the department 
that serves students with disabilities, consider 
purchasing materials in adaptive formats and 
offer to serve as a liaison with academic de­
partments; 

• if an instruction librarian, ensure that 
visually impaired students receive formal bib­
liographic classroom instruction. If involved 
in teaching, offer to work with the disability 
coordinator to provide instruction. 

Recommendations for administrators 
Library administrators can ensure that: 

• clear policies are in place for the use of 
specialized study rooms and adaptive equip­
ment and software; 

• there is bright lighting available in a 
designated place in the general reference 
area and on each floor of the library; 

• Braille signs are placed appropriately 
throughout the library; 

• large, bright, directional signs are in 
place; 

• book cases have large, bold call num­
bers; 

• stairways have a bright strip affi xed to 
the first and last stairs; 

• computer and database labs have at 
least one computer workstation with special­
ized software and magnifi cation; 

• hand magnifiers are available for 
checkout; 

• each floor of the library has at least one 
computer workstation equipped with special­
ized software and magnifi cation; 

• library staff are aware of new policies 
implemented and specialized equipment and 
software purchased; 

• two or three staff members are trained 
in using specialized software and adaptive 
aids; 

• orientation sessions are available for 
new, visually impaired students; 

• there is a strong campus­wide network 
with other units serving visually impaired 
students; 

• a staff member is trained to repair spe­
cialized equipment; 

• the library is represented on commit­
tees dealing with issues important to visually 
impaired students; 

• campus­wide advocacy programs are 
in place. 

Conclusion 
People with special needs often feel isolated 
and are sensitive to the perception that they 
are different. With a positive attitude and a 
few minor considerations, academic librar­
ians can help students with vision problems 
overcome these fears, serve to make the li­
brary a welcoming place for all, lend their 
individual talents and skills in an increas­
ingly complicated reference environment, 
and help make the research process easier 
and more productive for students who fi nd 
so much of it so diffi cult. 

If academic libraries are going to meet 
the challenge of providing fi rst­rate reference 
service and research support for their increas­
ing number of special­needs students, then 
librarians must reevaluate their role in the 
process and work collectively to make those 
services the sighted take for granted routinely 
available for the visually impaired. 

Equipping a specialized study room and 
having staff trained to serve the information 
requirements of special­needs students is 
an important necessity, but if the academic 
library is truly committed to full inclusion and 
equality of opportunity, then the energetic 
participation of the entire reference staff is 
essential. 

C&RL News January 2005  32