ARLG Conference 2014: The Final Frontier - to boldly go where you've never been before

There was so much packed into the 3 days, that I can't hope to cover all that I went to, so I am going to pick out the things I took from it the most, in no particular order:

That it doesn't cost a huge amount of money to make your library and it's services more accessible than they currently are. My plan  - to assess where we are at and find ways to improve it, using some of the ideas and resources mentioned by Virginia Power in her Inclusive Practice session. They are JISC TechDis' Online Accessibility Self Evaluation Service (OASES), the MLA Accessibility Toolkit, which I do have in paper format at work and is still available online from the National Archive (Disability Portfolio Guide) and to start making screencasts of how to use the accessibility resources we have.

Promote and encourage better use of e-books - Elaine Mulholland sent lists of relevant e-books (from the JISC e-books for FE) with live links to each curriculum area in her College, to raise awareness and encourage use. This, I think, is an excellent idea and as the JISC e-books for FE original agreement is about to expire, I feel that promoting what we still have available is very important. We have 3 different e-book providers and a 4th imminent (i.e. when I get my new budget), so it's a good opportunity to drill down into what we have and see if there are any gaps in the resources.

A task that I keep mentioning and never actually do anything about (I mentioned it at my last performance Review too, so I need to do it!) - better use of social media. We have a Facebook and Twitter account and are guilty of sporadically using it. My plan of campaign is to start with Georgina Cronin and Meg Westbury's idea of a social media policy and build from there. My initial thoughts are in addition to keeping people upto date with changes in opening times, events and any database downtime we are informed about, is to incorporate stuff that ties in with our displays and maybe current events. I know that in order for this to work I will need some way of scheduling updates - Hootsuite springs to mind, as I already have used it (not to full effect though) - I will need to train myself how to use it more efficiently and then train my staff.

I would also like to make a glossary of library terms, as suggested by Kirsty Carver and Sophie North in their Culturally Aware Library session. Whilst we do not have the same extent of diversity as Bradford University, we do have learners from different countries and as importantly we have a population who, in many cases, have never been into a library before. Therefore a glossary could be of benefit to a great many of our learners.

I have set a target for all of these goals to be achieved or at least worked towards (as I know some will take some time to put in place) within the next year.

Social inclusion and disability in the LRC

After my little rant at the end of my last blog post stating that you do not need a huge amount of money to provide an accessible service, I thought it might be useful to let you know what we do in the LRC I work in. Firstly we have to adhere to College policies which really means no discrimination on any grounds and that is fine with me. I want the LRC to be for everyone and hope that patrons feel safe, secure, welcome and get a high quality service at all times. The LRC works closely with colleagues responsible for Additional Learning Support (ALS), Equality and Diversity and English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL).

Physical access

We are in a modern building with lifts, wheelchair access, induction loops etc already built in. During the design process, we asked for more adjustable tables and low shelving (no more than 4 shelves high) throughout, we got both. Most of our shelving is low, we do have some 5 high against walls and where possible I try not to use the top shelf for books. This policy I started before we moved to our purpose built College. I had 6 high shelving in the old building, which I reduced to 4 where I could through stock relegation. There were 2 other reasons for doing this, other than acccessibility, I had to do a massive weed due to the impending move and also the LRC was quite dark, so this was a way of making it lighter (I took the shelf tops off too) . We also have aisles wide enough for wheelchairs to go through. The shelving and aisle basics are one of my big bugbears when going into University libraries. I am yet to go into one that is providing this kind of accessibility.

LRC Guides

Our VLE pages and information / promotional leaflets are accessible. All meet the College guidelines relating to font, size and alignments, can be enlarged and printed on colour paper upon request. Our signage throughout the LRC is in a large font so it can easily be seen. The OPAC has the option to change background colours and font size, these are features inbuilt into the system we have. This was a big consideration when we bought it 2 years ago. The previous system did not offer this and we asked the developer to address this issue, they didn't despite repeated requests. This was not the only reason why we bought a new system though - that could be a whole blog post in itself. I realise that not everyone can go and buy a new circulation system that provides an accessible OPAC, you can though ask for it to be in development plans (and hopefully you will have more success than I did).

Resources

We have a wide range of resources that can help with accessibility such as large screen monitors, magnifiers, screen filters, screen readers, coloured overlays, laptops, Braille and large character keyboards, TV, DVDs and player, Videos and player, MP3 Daisy Reader, CDs, Audio tapes, large print, braille and e-books. We have Kindles which have audio (very automated) and fonts can be enlarged. Many of these are everyday items that do not require a huge amount of financial outlay and are really useful, sometimes you don't need to buy an expensive product to provide what the patron needs. If there is an item that successfully does the job in your high street store, Amazon or wherever - get it, chances are it is going to be cheaper than getting it from a specialist company (you can always compare prices before buying). I have also digitised whole books where an electronic version hasn't been available. This requires getting permission from the publisher, I e-mailed asking if they had an electronic version I could have (maybe incurring a small fee) or for permission to digitise the item myself, saying why I needed to do this. The publishers I have dealt with have given permission for me to digitise the whole book without charge.

Diversity

I work in a College with a very diverse community and part of the curriculum offer are ESOL courses. There are 2 main strands to this, the awareness raising of the different communities and the support for the ESOL students to succeed. The LRC participates in cross College events regarding cultural and disability awareness, we sometimes have a stall in the street (this is what we call our main corridor) promoting how we support whatever it is we are raising awareness of. We also have many displays in the LRC and a dedicated noticeboard for Equality and Diversity. For the ESOL students, we provide a range of texts, so as well as their textbooks, we have bilingual dictionaries, foreign language fiction and different levels of English fiction. The English fiction we have starts at gradiated level readers, moving onto Quick Reads level and then youth and adult fiction.

Where do we get our information?

Working closely with various specialist within the College helps, as they can inform and advise what to get and so can the patrons needing to use these services. I find JISC TechDis very useful, the MLA's Disability Portfolio (it is slightly out of date now but has some good hints and tips) and for all equality and diversity issues, we look at national websites for information. Also as good practice look at what your computers already have built in that can help. As I said in my last post, a little bit of thought, care and effort goes a long way, you can achieve a lot this way.

Note: The equipment and services mentioned in this post is not an extensive list, there are lots of other things we do / have. These are the ones that have come to mind whilst writing the post.

Tackling social inclusion and disability issues in libraries

I thought that this might be a really useful session for picking up tips on how to make the library more inclusive. The talk started off with a brief overview of the Equality Act 2010 and then launched into different types of services offered by public libraries to make them inclusive such as housebound services. The talk then moved onto look at the 6 steps that the RNIB have to help blind and partially sighted people choose the right type of book using Your Reading Choices

The next part was about homeless projects that the presenter had been involved with in London. This started a debate over whether homeless people should be allowed into libraries, as one of the delegates had allowed a homeless person into the library she was working at, only for security to make them leave. The consensus of opinion was that if the person was disruptive, aggressive etc then they should be removed but they should not be made to leave if it is because they are considered undesirable in some way. This prejudice we all thought was probably illegal too.

Then the session moved back to outreach public library services and how they were under threat. At this point the presentation got somewhat bitty. There was brief mentions about enquiry services and electronic services, which I got the impression the presenter did not know much about, other than being a good thing for inclusion. There was not really any mention of how to promote these services or if library patrons have the knowledge to use them, and if not where do they acquire the knowledge? 

Diversity was briefly mentioned with an overview of LGBT awareness and Black History Month, before the talk moved back to public library cuts. There was then 2 slides about University cuts and how because students are paying more they are expecting more. It was specifically mentioned that University library opening hours in the UK (many now being 24/7) compare very favourably with overseas University libraries opening times. The fact that the libraries are not staffed by library staff all the time was not mentioned until it was pointed out by the delegates. Many Universities rely on their security staff during unsociable hours, so what kind of service are the students getting?

The talk then moved back to the public library cuts and the use of volunteers and work placement. The last part was a group discussion on what we do in our libraries. This was very useful as delegates worked in a variety of different sectors.

Overall the session was not the best I have ever been to. There was a heavy emphasis on public libraries, hardly any mention of ethnic diversity (which I would think plays a big role in libraries), few hints and tips, not much on modern assistive technology and nothing particularly positive about how to survive in the economic climate. The message I came away with was that there was no chance of social inclusion because of funding cuts. That for me is completely unacceptable, regardless of cuts, libraries must offer an inclusive service and I believe with a little thought, care and effort by staff, they can.