Documents for Visually Impaired Users in the Light of Library and Information Science: A Document Paradigm Revival

The article aims to show that the classical document paradigm in information science has the greatest potential to grasp the issues related to providing information to persons with visual disabilities. Additionally, it aims to ascertain whether the FRBR (Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records) study is usable in this area. The article is divided into two parts. In the first part, the paradigmatic turns in information science are briefly presented with an examination of their impact on the issues connected with users with visual disabilities. The second part briefly describes the structure of the bibliographic universe and with an examination of how it is possible to create a model of documents for users with visual impairment and of associated processes. The model of the bibliographic universe is applied to the situation of the documents for visually impaired users which currently exist. Methodologically, the article is based on the information system analysis. There is described and used an entity-relationship approach to a model of the bibliographic universe on which the FRBR study is based.