IIT Hyderabad to host national symposium on accessible, inclusive digital library

The Knowledge Resource Centre at IIT Hyderabad will host a two-day national symposium, Accessible and Inclusive Digital Library (AIDL) 2026, on March 6–7 at its Sangareddy campus. With India’s disability population at 2.68 crore and global estimates exceeding 15 per cent, the symposium aims to foster dialogue and collaborative solutions to empower persons with disabilities.

Sangareddy: The Knowledge Resource Centre (KRC), Library, IIT Hyderabad, will organise a two-day national symposium on Accessible and Inclusive Digital Library (AIDL) 2026 on March 6 and 7 at the IITH campus in Kandi, Sangareddy district.

The symposium aims to bring together library professionals, academicians, researchers, accessibility experts, policymakers, industry leaders and technology innovators to deliberate on assistive technologies, digital accessibility, inclusive library services and institutional frameworks for empowering persons with disabilities (PwD) users.

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With India having an estimated 2.68 crore persons with disabilities and global disability estimates exceeding 15 per cent of the population, the need for accessible digital content, assistive interfaces and inclusive learning ecosystems has never been more critical. AIDL 2026 seeks to address these pressing challenges by fostering dialogue, sharing best practices and building collaborative solutions.

Talking about the aims and objectives of the symposium, Director of IITH Prof BS Murty said the symposium reflects IITH’s deep commitment to building an inclusive learning ecosystem where accessibility is not an afterthought but a fundamental principle. By bringing together accessibility and disability experts, library professionals, policymakers and technology innovators from across the nation, he added AIDL 2026 creates a vital platform to reimagine how educational institutions can better serve students with disabilities.