The Library and Information Centre of the PD, following national legislation and EU directives, makes every effort for equal access of people with disabilities to the full range of its services. Utilizing new technologies, it appropriately shapes its facilities and trains its staff in terms of serving the public with disabilities.
The Library is accessible at all levels, either through elevators or through special ramps that ensure its use by people with mobility problems. It has parking spaces and properly designed sanitary areas.
The Branches of Arta and Preveza have autonomous access while access to the Ioannina Branch is assisted.
In particular, it provides
- specialized workstations with the necessary equipment and appropriate reading and internet access software for blind and partially sighted users.
- academic textbooks in electronic form. Students with disabilities have the opportunity to request the conversion of their academic textbooks into accessible digital format. The service contacts publishers, then converts and modifies the material and finally, uploads the material to the “Accessible Multimodal Digital Library of Controlled Access” AMELib.
- use of AMELib (http://amelib.seab.gr/). It is a web application that offers print disabled users content in accessible electronic format (pdf, e-pub, word, daisy, etc.). Access to this database is achieved with controlled access codes. Users are bound by a solemn declaration for the proper and lawful use of the accessible material, as provided for in the Ministerial Decision YPO/ADMINISTRATIVE/98546 (Government Gazette B 2065 24.10.2007), taking note of the consequences of the law on copyright protection (Law 2121/1993 – Government Gazette 25/A/4-3-1993) in case of violation. AMELib user registration form.
AMELib (Accessible Multi-modal Electronic Library) was developed in the framework of action 9.7 of HEAL-Link (Hellenic Academic Libraries Link). By October 2020, approximately 1800 book titles had been posted.
The Library collaborates with the Accessibility and Social Support Unit for Students of the University of Thessaloniki, which is housed on the1st floor of the Central Library.
The mission of the Unit is to create a favorable educational environment within the University to support students who, for medical or other social reasons, face functional and educational difficulties in completing their studies.