Visual impairment poses a significant obstacle to accessing necessary information. Hearing, touch, and smell are among the most important senses for blind individuals to understand and perceive their surroundings in their darkened world.
Reading, whether by touch using Braille or by listening-as with talking books-is often the only way for blind people to spend their free time and educate themselves. It connects them to the world around them. Studies have shown that access to information is one of the most important human rights, enabling individuals to develop themselves and participate effectively in society. Visually impaired individuals need access to all new information published in society, in any form, whether printed or digital. Libraries and information centers can provide technology to help visually impaired individuals meet these needs and offer educational and training programs, as is the case in most educational and intellectual activities. Libraries and information centers can make a difference in the lives of people with visual impairments, helping them to realize potential they did not know existed. Barbara Mates mentions in her book on assistive technology in libraries that graduate students with visual impairments in universities whose libraries contain assistive technology devices consider the library's dedicated room containing their assistive technology to be the reason for their success. They stated that their success would be impossible without this room containing the devices and software, which enables them to access the information they need for their scientific research.