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Funding and governance of library and information services for visually impaired people: international case studies

Part2:Country studies

The Netherlands

Library and user group data

Visual impairment

Numbers used in the Netherlands are based on research by the Verwey Jonker institute (1998) and are accepted.

Blind: 0.1% of the population (16,000)

Very severe visual impairment: 1.0% (160,000)

Visual impairment overall, including less severe: 2.0% (320,000)

Scientific research shows a 3.6% figure (576,000) for dyslexic people, although researchers in educational environments speak of a higher percentage (between 5 and 10%, or 800,000 ? 1,000,000)

Stichting Lezen recently stated that there are 1.5 million Dutch people that cannot read (including illiteracy)

Public libraries

The number of public libraries is stable over the last five years. They are spread all over the country, although the concentration in urban regions is higher. The public library sector is somewhere between adequately funded and under-funded. Public libraries transform their services from book lending to information services, making use of the internet, etc, getting more involved in local educational activities, etc. The use of public libraries can and should be better. most frequent users are people under 18. This is caused by a freedom of contribution for younger people. Least frequent are users between 18 and 40.