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

Part2:Country studies

Croatia

Library and user group data

The Croatian Library for the Blind is the only institution in Croatia which provides library services to blind and partially sighted people. It was established in 1921. During the period 1965 ? 2000 it was part of The Croatian Association of the Blind and from 2000 it became an independent organization. (According to the Croatian government decree, the Croatian Library for the Blind was originally founded as public institution.)

According to the database of the Croatian Association for the Blind, there are about 5,500 blind persons in Croatia and 1,406 of them use the services of the library. They each read approximately 17 titles a year (statistics from 2001).

A survey on the Employment of Blind and Partially Sighted People in Europe (2001) [http://www.euroblind.org/fichiersGB/surveymb.htm] conducted by European Blind Union estimates that there was 50% unemployment for visually impaired people in Croatia, while general unemployment was about 20%.