Assistive Technologies as a Search Tool for the Demanded Profile of Special Library

Abstract

Digital transformation of the modern world requires any person, including people with partial or complete vision loss, to have new competencies in organizing their own lives. The share of high-tech services is growing in almost all areas of library and information activities.The process of inclusion of visually impaired people in the world of new opportunities is directly related to the formation of the image of socially active special library. The author analyzes the management decisions and development of the Novosibirsk Regional Special Library for the Blind and Visually Impaired as a consumer and participant of the intersectoral and interdepartmental market of rehabilitation industry products. The article reveals the role of assistive (auxiliary) technologies in the expansion of a number of educational services for the interested social and professional groups of the population.The empirical basis of the article is the results of the information and applied development of the assistive technology sphere by the specialists of the Novosibirsk Regional Special Library for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Various social, technical, regulatory and economic aspects have defined the development of the institution over a long period of time. The interdisciplinary nature of the proposed method involves the use of advanced assistive technologies as the basis for expanding the services of special library.The article considers the proactive approach that takes into account the priorities of the readership as an actual and effective way to develop a system of special library and information services. The author proposes and approves as innovation the idea of using the achievements of the related field of activity — accessibility technologies. Educational and training activities of the library in this context become a targeted tool for informing and motivating specialists of various branches. The article shows the need for additional efforts to organize and coordinate the work in the conditions of different levels of competence of specialists. Advanced development of assistive technologies allows expanding the range of users.