Daegu University's Braille library opened in 1981 and was commissioned by the Ministry of Education to publish textbook for blind students at elementary, middle, and high school. Our university has been contributing to the Education of blind students ever since.

 However, this year our university's Braille library was not selected to produce textbooks for schools nationwide. This will make the Braille library cut back on its operations or possibly even close.

 This would be a tragic loss for Daegu University. Officials at the Braille library said that even though they were not selected for the national project, they will keep our library alive.

 

▶ Daegu University's Braille library is "The Blind's Common property."

 The blind students in school said that Daegu University didn't take part in open bidding for the national publishing project for the Braille textbooks. Now they are concerned that they will not receive a fair education and adequate access to information that they deserve.

 He said Daegu University's Braille library has contributed to the education of the blind for more than 60 years and there are very few Braille libraries in the country. Furthermore, our Braille library is equipped with excellent personnel and infrastructure compared to other Braille libraries.

 So, we will conserve this historial value and we hope that Daegu University's Braille library will publish books on culture and university textbooks for our university's blind students.

 In addition, he said that Daegu University's Braille library is "The blind's common property," and "in the name of welfare and education of its students, our university is urged to continue publishing materials for the blind who want to have the same access to books as their sighted classmates enjoy. You can read this students group's opinion at the 'Agora'. Electronic signatures are needed so help spread the word!"

 

▶ We will do our best for student's welfare. The closing of the Braille library is a "groundless rumor".

 Meanwhile, Daegu university said that closing of the Braille library is a groundless rumor.  They said they took part in the open bidding for the national project, but our university's

Braille library was not selected due to a lack of capacity.

 The library official stated that, "Only two institutions (Siloam, X-vision) were granted permission according to the Korean Institution for Special Education’s rules governing production capacity.

 Furthermore, we looked at various ways to solve the problem. In spite of our best effort, there is a law regarding the contract, so there was nothing we could do about this problem."

 Second, there is some misinformation concerning the role of the Braille library in producing material for university students.

 The Braille library just makes textbooks high school students. However, there is a Disabled Student Support Center that exists to serve disabled students at Daegu University. This department is well-organized and has an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) with the National Library to Support the Disabled. They produce materials for Daegu University’s disabled students.

 In addition, a representative for Daegu University's Braille library said, “The opinions of Agora is based on groundless rumors. We think these groundless rumors will become weak as the facts emerge.”

 They representative did not want to dispute the problem. Instead, they assured us they will do their best for students’ welfare according to the given situation."

 

L.L.F reporter Hye-Jin Jeoung, You-Min Kim

 

 

정혜진, 김유민  1995_mind@naver.com, piiiinut@naver.com