Second Session of Library Services to People with Special Needs:
11:45-13:45, Tuesday 19th August 2014

“Dyslexia? Welcome to our Library!”

Program

• Introduction (5 mins)
  Veronica L C Stevenson-Moudamane (Chair of IFLA/LSN)

• Keynote speech (30 mins)
  “What is new about dyslexia and the European Dyslexia Association?”
  Dr. Anne-Marie Montarnal (Secretary of European Dyslexia Association, St Gilda de Rhuys, France)

• “Discover the renewed and enlarged Guidelines for Library Services to Persons with Dyslexia!” (25 mins)
  Saskia Boets (Luisterpuntbibliotheek, Flemish Public Library for Audio Books and Braille Books, Brussels, Belgium) and
  Helle Mortensen (Lyngby Public Library, Lyngby, Denmark)

In 2001, IFLA published the Guidelines for Library Services to Persons with Dyslexia (IFLA Section ‘Library Services to People with Special Needs’).
A growing body of research has since then changed the connotation of the word dyslexia, making it less medical and more social in meaning, and changed our attitudes towards persons with dyslexia, supporting them with solutions and alternative ways of reading and writing, instead of training them, in many cases to no avail, to read from print and to spell correctly.
IFLA ‘Library Services to People with Special Needs’ (LSN) and ‘Libraries Serving Persons with Print Disabilities’ (LPD) worked together to revise and enlarge the former Guidelines:

• A document that can be consulted by professionals in the library world;
• A document where library staff can find ideas, examples and suggestions on how to recognize library users with dyslexia, how to approach them and how to improve their services.

Discover all about it!

• “Public Library Serving People with Dyslexia - A Swedish example” (15 mins)
  Heidi Carlsson-Asplund (Lerum Public Library, Lerum, Sweden)

Around 5-7% of the population has dyslexia and so many as 24% over 16 years of age don't understand the content of a newspaper.
What can libraries do to support customers with reading difficulties? How can the library staff be organized and how can we arrange the media in the library.

• “But they don't look like they have a disability."  Serving People with Dyslexia, Best Practices from the United States” (15 mins)
  Nancy Bolt (Nancy Bolt & Associates, Golden, Colorado, USA)
  
  Dyslexia is a “hidden” disability. It is not readily visible and people with dyslexia sometimes try and hide it.  This is a challenge for libraries that want to serve people with dyslexia.  Nancy Bolt will describe services from libraries in the United States for people with dyslexia and efforts by the American Library Association to develop guidelines for people with this disability.

• “Dyslexia and Library Programms for Motivation to Read in Croatia” (15 mins)
  Dunja M. Gabriel (National and University Library in Zagreb, Croatia), Mirjana Lencek (Speech and language therapist and Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences in Zagreb, Croatia) and Ljiljana Sabljak (City Library of Zagreb at Zagreb City Libraries, Croatia)

In Croatia, dyslexia has been the subject of systematic study for the last twenty years. Scientific knowledge of dyslexia has made a significant contribution to preventing the consequences of dyslexia among citizens of all ages, from preschool children to adults. Over the last 10 years, people with dyslexia in Croatia have received improved service in public libraries through cooperation between librarians and speech and language therapists.　Projects aiming to stimulate the reading motivation for people with reading and writing difficulties have been developed by the Croatian Library Association in cooperation with the Croatian Logopedics Association and the Croatian Dyslexia Association. During this presentation you will be informed about projects concerning reading motivation for people with reading and writing difficulties in Croatian public libraries as a part of the new project “Library as an opportunity for success”.

•  Questions and Answers (10 mins)