lecieltumultueux:
morerobots:
rgr-pop:
Since I have a working typing computer for the moment, however briefly, I wanted to respond to Cait’s discussion about accessibility in libraries, based on the libraries I have worked at, which are in some ways good and need work in other ways.
Beginning with mobility issues, of course everyone knows about ramps and elevators. Where I live, it’s important also that ramps (and stairs and paths!) stay salted, shoveled, and maintained. (This is such a Michigan Problem to have, but a less obvious one for a lot of people.) This includes staff parking and entrance, which (I think rightfully, to a point) often takes less precedence over public areas, but still need to be held to the same standards of mobility. And elevators! I mean, having an elevator is the actual barest minimum (legally, even, right?) but damn how many of you work in an old-ass municipal building with one patron elevator that is always broken. Me! I do.
There are other mobility issues that I think are pretty obvious but often overlooked. Aisle width, most crucially. Beyond that, I think a lot of libraries are starting to realize how important it is to use vertical space sparingly, not only to accommodate the widest range of heights but because even people in “normal” height ranges might have difficulty stretching or climbing stools, and (importantly) relying on stools in all aisles means that aisles are cluttered with stools and less easy to move through.
Lots of libraries have ways for patrons to request that items be pulled for them off the shelf. At my university library, there’s a disability coordinator who will take lists of what you need and have a page pull them, and you can also request to have that done at the circ desk.
But! The public library I work for has an “automated” hold system. See, we are a network of 13 branches (not even including our connections to Michigan eLibrary, in which we are both the largest lender and the largest borrower by volume). We have way too many holds circulating at the branches, so we use self-serve hold systems. Basically: if you place a hold online, in person, or over the phone, the item will get pulled from the shelf by someone in the circ department and placed on our low shelves near the entrance. For scale, I would say we pull at least 100-250 items every day at my branch to fill a hold at my branch or to get sent to another branch in the system.
What I think is so, so good about our system is that it is integrated into the day to day operations of basically everybody who uses our libraries, but it really helps a lot of people with accessibility issues. We pull the items and put them (with patrons’ names in code) on the hold shelves, which are wide and low and right by the lobby entrance near the circ desks and the (lower) self-check-out machines. A lot of disabled patrons use this to get all of the materials they check out, so they only need to come in to the front, grab their item and go, rather than going up or downstairs. It’s really, really smart in my opinion. (And, as I said, holds can be placed in lots of different media to accommodate people without computer access, varying language levels, sight or sound issues. Phone/In Person/Internet for most if not all library functionality needs to be seen as the new bare minimum in libraries.)
It’s also important to have ways to help people carry stuff! At my university library you can check out a full cart to move around the library (and it’s a relatively easy to maneuver space) and, as I said before, pages are available to assist. At the library I work at, we don’t have any standardized ways to lend people book carts, but we usually will if somebody asks. We also have baskets, but I really wish we had rolling baskets.
As an aside, one thing I really, really wish we had a better system for in my library is for people to leave their stuff. There are lots of safety issues in this, of course, and (more than anything) concerns about liability, but my supervisors hate when we let people stash their stuff by the front lobby when they go upstairs to look around. I get it, but, like, sometimes (all the time) people are stopping by the library, off the bus, on their way home from grocery shopping, carrying armfuls of heavy stuff, and even though we have (limited) lockers, I really wish there was a way to make things easier for people. If I can get away with it, I will almost always try to find a way to help people not carry their heavy shit around with them in the building.
Then there are outreach services! This should be a big part of this discussion. Our outreach services (basically one guy in a bookmobile) operate as a branch within our system, and also oversees materials-by-mail and occasional personal deliveries. I’m pretty sure there is also a component that operates within the prison and a small group that works with the shelters near us. I wish I was more involved and could more thoroughly critique these services but I am glad that we have them and, again, they are always integrated online/over the phone/in person. Related to this issue of people actually getting here, I think it’s really important for libraries to have policies considering the needs of ill and chronically homebound. A lot of these special accommodations are handled by our outreach supervisor, but we also will not infrequently be asked to waive fines for the hospitalized, and so on. Make sure you know what you are allowed to do in these situations! I hope nobody’s policy is too rigid in this respect.
(At my work, my supervisors always say our main goal is to get people using our collections and more than anything, our main goal is to give children access, which is why we have a number of “just-in-case” policies for kids that get in trouble (which is almost always on account of irresponsible adults in their lives). I extend this policy, personally, to my work with hospitalized, disabled, homebound, and sick people, as well as recently incarcerated people, the best that I can. Do you have the ability to waive a fine when you think it’s appropriate?)
The collections themselves, though! This is another thing I think is really, really crucial. This is what a more accessible library collection would look like, to me:
a very large audiobook collection, in digital, CD, and cassette media, and in languages other than English. This means prioritizing audiobooks in building collections! That’s, so, so important. It should be key at every single library. At my work, we also are tapped into the statewide interlibrary loan, meaning we can find audiobooks at libraries across the state. However! Some library systems don’t lend out their A/V materials. We don’t, for example, lend out our DVDs usually. But it is so, so, crucial to lend out your audiobooks if you are part of an ILL system. I can’t understate this. That is what accessibility in libraries looks like.
I also feel really strongly about the importance of e-books in accessibility and get really mad at people who whine about Technology Ruining Books or w/e. E-books allow people with limited vision to change text size and (sometimes) contrast, for easier legibility. Also, for people with hand/joint pain or mobility issues, a kindle can make the processof reading so much less horrible. Even I really benefit from this when I use the kindle, and I don’t have very severe joint pain! These were all the reasons I wanted to get my mom an e-reader: she complained that she never read anymore because it hurt her wrists to hold up books and half the time she couldn’t see anyway. I think the kindle helped her a lot. (And, again, as long as a patron has internet access, e-books and other downloadable options can be lifesavers for the homebound.)
I want to stress this as much as I can: people sometimes ignore e-books, computer options, and other “technological” aids as not being accessible because they are often not accessible to poor people. I think all of these things are super, super important to making libraries accessible to the disabled and so I think libraries should really be asking, how can I make expensive assistive technology accessible for my poor and disabled patrons?
I know a lot of libraries are giving people the option to check out e-readers. I love this! Even if you don’t go as far as to let them leave the building, like I said before, people could use them on site to make reading easier for them.
Can you imagine if our public services made an effort to give the elderly, disabled, and homebound access to kindles though? They’re cheap. This is cheap assistive technology. What if?
Did I mention large print books? We aren’t forgetting about those, right?
You know what else matters in accessibility? Languages other than English.
And braille resources? My library has none, but my university library is part of a big initiative in this department.
I wish I could speak more to other kinds of assistive technologies but I don’t know anything about library technology to speak of, but: what kinds of accessibility programs do your on-site computer setups have? And what about things like magnificaition technology, readers., etc.?
The question that I’ve wanted to start exploring lately is the relationship between the spatial makeup of a library and the needs of people with cognitive disabilities. (This includes the functionality of call number systems themselves!) Does anybody have any insight into this? This is kind of where I would like to take my work, esp. w/r/t research libraries, in the future.
You know, I don’t think I even covered cognitive disabilities. Or at least, I just wasn’t sure where/how to look into it.
Erin mentioned that she wished that there was some sort of staff workshop to help staff members understand disability. Which is something I definitely think should be mandatory. It’s good for staff to have a handle on what to do and how to be educated. I’ve worked with some staff that are kind of awful wrt patrons with disabilities, and it’s really frustrating.
You should read this. Excellent points are brought up. I don’t know nearly as much as I should about all of the ways we can make library services more accessible to some of our patrons and now I’ve got some ideas and some issues to keep in mind.