O&M News
Outreach & Marketing News from SALS
Fifth Edition, 3/11/16
Email: lbuckley@sals.edu
Website: www.sals.edu
Location: 22 Whitney Place, Saratoga Springs, NY, United States
Phone: 518-584-7300
Facebook: www.facebook.com/southernadirondacklibrarysystem
Twitter: @SouthernADKLib
Let's Talk Toilets: Is Your Library Bathroom Accessible?
The library should have at least one toilet for persons with disabilities, equipped with the following:
• Clear signs with pictogram indicating the location of the toilets
• Door wide enough for a wheelchair to enter and sufficient space for a wheelchair to turn around
• Room enough for a wheelchair to pull up next to the toilet seat
• Toilet with handles and flushing lever reachable for persons in wheelchairs
• Alarm button reachable for persons in a wheelchairs
• Washbasin, mirror at the appropriate height
Read more about accessible library spaces from the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, No. 89, By Birgitta Irvall and Gyda Skat Nielsen
SAIL
You may have noticed The Richards Library's latest blog post reminding people that SAIL is able to assist with Social Security sign-ups, housing, grants for medical equipment & assistive tech, healthcare sign-ups & finding long-term care solutions. Check out WAR's website post.
Additionally, SAIL has examples of low-cost items that will help children on the spectrum to feel more comfortable participating in story times and other library programs.
ALA just came out with this great article on Sensory Storytimes for kids on the spectrum:
Here's another article listing a few other examples. It highlights that the visual timers that are so incredibly useful to kids on the spectrum could be as simple as an app download.
SAIL has offered to:
1) Do accessibility surveys of member libraries and make recommendations of low-cost options to make library spaces more accessible, in addition to ADA-Guided building assessments.
2) Explain & demo various assistive tech options
3) Work & partner with libraries in the pursuit of grants for the purpose of making libraries accessible & acquire assistive tech
SAIL’s Navigators have already worked with many member libraries-- so if you'd rather pursue the accessibility assessments on your own with a contact you already have, please do. Or, please contact me to set up an assessment and demo some of the tech options SAIL provides.
Strengthening Cities, Communities & Homes: A Summit on Housing & Community Development
Sunday, Apr 10, 2016, 12:00 PM
Saratoga Springs, NY, United States
New York Public Library BookShare Program
Shared From NYPL:
A partnership between the New York Public Library and Bookshare serves patrons with print disabilities anywhere in New York State. Any library throughout the state can help their patrons get free access to over 370,000 accessible ebooks/eAudiobooks from home.
A print disability can be a visual impairment (including legal blindness or age-related vision loss), a physical impairment that affects the ability to hold a book or turn pages (such as Parkinson's, CP, arthritis, paralysis, etc), or a reading disability such as dyslexia that is physically based.
Of course patrons with print disabilities can still use the wonderful National Library Service (professionally-narrated audio books, magazines, and players delivered to the patron's door free through the mail, web download, or mobile app). And now they can now also take advantage of Bookshare: an online database of accessible e-books that will read themselves aloud with the computer or mobile device's voice, while highlighting enlargeable text onscreen. There is no wait or hold queue and patrons can request titles to be added. Bookshare usually charges a fee for non-students, but the new partnership makes it free to all NYPL library card holders. If you live, work, or pay taxes in the State, you can get an NYPL library card without having to come into a branch. Once you have an activated card, call 917-ask-nypl to get the free Bookshare promo code.
Possibly helpful are these very short videos about understanding print disabilities and Bookshare:
Possibilities Abound with Bookshare! (2 minutes);
As They See It: Technology for Students with Learning Disabilities (3.5 minutes);
What is Bookshare? (1.5 minutes);
How to Sign up for Bookshare (2 minutes);
How to Get Started Reading Bookshare books (1.5 minutes)
More information about what is offered and how to sign up is available at nypl.org/printdisabilities. Questions on the details of using Bookshare can go to their help center.
New Toolkit for Serving Special Population Children & Their Caregivers
Check out the Toolkit HERE
Big Library Read is Almost Here!
The next Big Read is tackling "American Sniper" by Chris Kyle.
Library Big Read is your patrons' opportunity to join the global book club!
No limits to the number of check-outs!
Marketing materials HERE
ALA Wants Your Opinion
The survey closes March 18th.
3 Ways Libraries Can Channel Understanding in Confusing Times
1) Strengthening Collections
2) Host a Human Library
3) Growing Through Conflict in the Workplace
OVERDRIVE READBOX: EMBEDDED EBOOK SAMPLES
Facebook Makes Creating QR Codes to Promote Events Simple!
Now we can LOVE things, among other reactions...
Also, we can quickly create QR codes to help promote events! Check out the photo below, and contact me if you'd like help learning how to set up events on Facebook or using the QR code option.
Making Your Website Accessible
Accessibility is the law...
- Choose a content management system that supports accessibility
- Use headings correctly to organize the structure of your content
- Include proper alt text for images
- Give your links unique and descriptive names
- Use color with care
- Design your forms for accessibility
- Use tables for tabular data, not for layout
- Ensure that all content can be accessed with the keyboard alone in a logical way
- Use ARIA roles and landmarks
- Make dynamic content accessible
From https://webaccess.berkeley.edu/resources/tips/web-accessibility
WAVE Web Accessibility Tool
A recent study found that only 10% of library websites are accessible.
Test your site with WAVE
Please contact me if you'd like help interpreting the results or editing your site to make it more accessible.
Learn more about providing services for people with Low Vision
Learn more about inclusive design
Other Resources;
http://guidelines.usability.gov/
http://senna.sjsu.edu/lmain/isdaccess/home.html
http://www.high-higher-highest-rankings.com/pdfs/styleguide.pdf
Website design tips: https://psdtowp.net/website-design-tips.html
I'm happy to help with any adjustments that you'd like to make to your website.
Disability.gov News
At ADA.gov, you can find out more about the Americans with Disabilites Act and free resources to assist you in assisting others http://www.ada.gov/taprog.htm
Other Resources for working with students with disabilities:
https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2016/01/25/childrens-books-disability/21819/
Upcoming Continuing Ed from the National Library of Medicine
o New member webinar for consumer health – Tuesday, March 15, 2016 at noon ET. Registration is Required.
o New member webinar for health professionals – Wednesday, March 16, 2016 at 1:00 pm ET. Registration is Required.
o Advanced PubMed® Tips, Tricks, and Tools: MeSH – (Wednesday, March 16, 2016 at noon ET.) Sponsored by the National Library of Medicine Training Center. Registration is Required.
·
o A Library's Use of Social Media – (Wednesday, March 16, 2016 at 4:00PM ET) Sponsored by the Pacific Northwest Region. No registration is required. Join at: http://webmeeting.nih.gov/rendezvous.
o Finding Mental Health Information – (Thursday, March 17, 2016 at noon ET). No registration is required. Join at: https://webmeeting.nih.gov/nlmfocus/
Libraries Transform! Updates
Don't forget to tag your amazing posts with #LibrariesTransform
Check out this free 60-minute webinar on how libraries across the country are already transforming their communities:http://www.ala.org/trans…/libraries-transforming-communities
& visit the Libraries Transform website to register your library: http://www.ilovelibraries.org/librariestransform/
Two other articles you may have missed on Facebook last week include:
This article from American Libraries
and this article, also from American Libraries