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

Part2:Country studies

Croatia

The view from the user's perspective

The visually impaired person has to be a user of the library. This means that he or she has paid a library fee (50,- kn per year, in 2006 = £4.56). Students do not pay fees. Then he/she contacts the library in order to get the necessary materials.

A visually impaired person can contact a local branch of the Association of the Blind. (There are approximately 26 regional and municipal organizations for the blind.) Each branch provides visually impaired people with information such as the phone number of the library, the address, etc, so the visually impaired person can contact the library by phone, fax, email, letter in ink print or Braille, or they may come directly to the library.

The library provides new users with an audio device free of charge (funded by the Fund for Health Insurance), but a formal claim for the device at a local branch of The Croatian Association of the Blind is essential. The Library has a list of books for each user.

Users from the town of Zagreb, where the library is situated, can collect books by person directly from the library or order by telephone (users will receive books ordered by phone within one week. The delivery is organized by the library’s car within Zagreb).

Books sent by mail are always sent by special delivery, using special delivery boxes. The service is free of charge for each blind person in Croatia.

Each user can borrow up to 3 books for a period of one month, and up to 5 books during a summer period. There is a range of formats available - large print, Braille, 2-and 4-track audio.