Orientation/Training Programmes in NCR Libraries for People with Disabilities: Study of User’s Perspective

The purpose of this article is to study users’ perspective regarding the importance of library orientation/training programmes for the people with disabilities in the leading academic and special National Capital Region (NCR) libraries of India. Survey methodology has been used as the basic research tool for data collection with the help of Likert-type questionnaires. The total 375 users surveyed in all the 15 libraries are selected randomly on the basis of willingness of the users to participate in the survey with the experience of working in digital environment. The survey results were tabulated and analyzed with descriptive statistics methods using Excel software and ‘Stata version 11’. The help of ‘Sign Language Interpreters’ was taken to communicate with the deaf/hearing impaired users. The Library orientation/training programmes are found ‘Essential’ for the people with disabilities. Majority of users in all the libraries are not found aware of any orientation programme organized at their institution/library which depicts lack of ‘User Awareness Programmes’ in the National Capital Region Libraries. The people with disabilities are found aware of latest technologies and rely on training to utilize its benefits. This study is the first to explore the users’ perspective regarding library orientation/training programmes for the people with disabilities in NCR libraries of India. The findings will assist the libraries to review their training policies to improve the service quality for the users.