The Taha Hussein (TH) Library for the blind offers a new concept in meeting the special needs of the visually impaired, enabling them to access all the resources of the library as well as selected web resources. The TH Library is equipped with special software, which will allow the blind and the visually impaired to access the Library's Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC) using Braille and sound software. Similar software will allow TH library users to access all of the electronic resources available through the main BA website. Scanners that use special software to transfer text into speech are also available that enable users to read any printed material.
"Education is like the water we drink and the air we breath."
Taha Hussein, Ph.D.
Receiver of the United Nations Human Rights Award
Presently the Taha Hussein Library consists of an area of about 47 m2 , including a reading area that can accommodate fourteen users simultaneously and two individual study rooms. This has proven to be inadequate to meet demand. The overwhelming popularity of this special library over the last three years has caused the BA to initiate an expansion of the TH Library. The prospective expansion will include an additional reading area with accommodations for forty users simultaneously and a separate training room to be used for OPAC training and possible seminars on the blind.