Transition to Campus Life: The Perceptions of Visually Impaired Students towards Librarians' Communication Skills

Nahid BAYAT BODAGHI; Loh Sau Cheong; Zainab Awang Ngah

doi:10.18352/lq.10279

Transition to Campus Life

The Perceptions of Visually Impaired Students towards Librarians' Communication Skills

Authors

Nahid BAYAT BODAGHI Department of Educational Psychology & Counselling, University of Malaya (UM), Kuala Lumpur, MY
Loh Sau Cheong Department of Educational Psychology & Counselling, University of Malaya (UM), Kuala Lumpur, MY
Zainab Awang Ngah Department of Library and Information Science, University of Malaya (UM), Kuala Lumpur, MY

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18352/lq.10279

Keywords:

Inclusion, Communication skills, Librarians, Academic library, Campus life, Transition

Abstract

Making the transition to campus life can be reminiscent of the season of adolescence for individuals with special needs. This article investigates the role of academic librarians’ communication skills in relation to the success of the transition programme for visually impaired students (VIPs). Data were collected through interviews and focus groups. Participants consisted of five female and thirteen male students between the ages of 20 and 37. The participants considered librarians’ tone of voice, greetings, and conversation as key factors for a successful transition. They also noted that the main obstacles they faced were the lack of opportunity to interact with librarians and the librarians’ lack of disability awareness and knowledge.

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Published

2019-05-21

How to Cite

BAYAT BODAGHI, N., Cheong, L. S., & Ngah, Z. A. (2019). Transition to Campus Life: The Perceptions of Visually Impaired Students towards Librarians’ Communication Skills. LIBER Quarterly: The Journal of the Association of European Research Libraries, 29(1), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.18352/lq.10279