For People with Disabilities

 

Qatar National Library is committed to ensuring that all our resources are accessible to everyone. Our main collection includes materials produced for those with disabilities, including large-print books, audiobooks and books in braille.

Bookshare is an online database library that makes reading accessible for people who cannot read standard print. Members can listen to a book, follow along with highlighted text, read in braille, and customize their experience in ways that make reading easier. Accounts can be obtained through this link.

NOTE: Bookshare account also gives you access to the complimentary book title request through the ABC Global Book Service.

Our Assistive Technology Center is specially designed for people with disabilities, with adjustable workstations and the latest equipment and software, such as scanning pens with headphones, ergonomic keyboards and mice, braille keyboards, and portable electronic magnifiers. Some of these devices and equipment are available for in-library borrowingView our assistive technology device loan form. You may also view and download our Assistive Technology Center Guide here.

Our Sensory Room is specially designed to combine a range of stimuli to develop sensory skills and perception in children and adults with special needs.

Our audio books for children enable users to learn by listening and in doing so also enhancing their verbal skills. In addition, these audio books allow blind and visually impaired children to access the same sources of knowledge as their visually abled peers. To instill a love of literature and learning among all members of society, we provide a set of Arabic audio books for young people inside the Children’s Library.

Our Arabic books in Braille is a collection of children's stories that enable the blind and visually impaired to develop their reading skills and access the same literature as their able-bodied friends and classmates.

We also organize frequent workshops and events for people with disabilities and their families, including a summer camp activity for visually impaired people and workshops on "Free Apps for Autism" and "Assistive Technology Devices." We host schools for the disabled and partner with local organizations to continue to serve the entire community. As part of our grand opening celebrations, we launched the Book Club for the Blind, an ongoing gathering that encourages those with visual impairments or print disabilities to share their love of reading in a supportive environment. 

For a complete list of events, please visit our Events page.

We are always working to improve our services for all of our users. If you have any suggestions on how we can make the Library’s resources better accessible, please click here.