Approved-By:  "Leslie M. Haas" <LHAAS@KENTVM.BITNET>
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.libref-l
Date:         Thu, 30 Jul 1992 12:47:54 EDT
From:         Jim Neeley <JNEELEY@UKANVM.BITNET>

----------------------------Original message----------------------------

           Academic Librarians Assisting the Disabled
                 Discussion Group of ASCLA/LSSPS

                Meeting at ALA Annual Conference
                          June 29, 1992

                             REPORT



Jane Berliss, Access Products Director for Berkeley Systems, Inc.
and Vice-Chair of EDUCOM's Project EASI, was featured guest at
the meeting of the Academic Librarians Assisting the Disabled
Discussion Group on June 29, 1992, at the annual conference of
the American Library Association in San Francisco.

Ms. Berliss' presentation, "People First!," combined practical
and inspirational information to an audience of nonspecialists:
librarians with responsibility for services to the disabled but
with primary duties in other areas of librarianship, an
arrangement typical among college and university libraries.

The focus of the presentation was on adapting library technology
such as online catalogs and CD-ROM databases.  Ms. Berliss began
with two premises.  First, a librarian (assisting the disabled)
is his or her own best (disabled) user.  No matter that you may
not be "legally" disabled (according to the Rehabilitation Act of
1973 and its amendments); everyone needs some assistance in
coping with their environment, whether it is eyeglasses (can't
see well enough), typewriter (can't write legibly), or adjustable
chair/table heights.  Some just need more assistance than others.
Second, a librarian (assisting the disabled) is his or her own
best resource.  No one knows their own library and campus better:
their environment, resources, contacts.  No one is in a better
position to assess user needs.  No one is better positioned to
devise accommodations.

In choosing accommodations, consider the following priorities.
Most important, implement fixes for immediate and future needs
(such as CRT screen review software and voice synthesizer
hardware for currently enrolled sight-impaired students).  Then
work on adaptations for future needs, for example screen
magnification software to assist a generally aging population.
Finally, consider assistive technology for specific individuals.
Here, keep in mind that other agencies are better qualified to
diagnose specific needs and better funded to provide specific
assistance.  Also beware that special service to individuals may
set a precedent that will be hard for the library to follow.

Rather than wait for library users with disabilities to force the
issue, consider that adaptations that help them are also benefits
that help everyone.  For example, while curb cuts were intended
to assist those in wheelchairs, in fact the number of non-
disabled persons who have found curb cuts useful is vastly
larger.  Similarly, "electronic curb cuts" such as screen
magnification software offer benefits to a large proportion of
people whose vision is less than perfect, even though not legally
impaired.

Two of the more promising initiatives a librarian might take are
large print and trackballs.  While several large print options
are available, software solutions like screen magnification are
good first choices because they offer relatively large
improvements at relatively small cost.  Closed-circuit television
image enlargers could then follow.  The trackball is a type of
mouse which requires less manual dexterity, and though it was
developed for non-disabled users, many disabled users have found
it easier to use than a conventional mouse.

Many other suggestions are detailed in Ms. Berliss' "Checklists
for Making Library Automation Accessible to Disabled Patrons,"
(draft version 0.9, 28 pp., March 1992), which was distributed at
the meeting.  The four Checklists (in a single document) include:

  1. Team Preparation (planning, assessment, consulting, patron
     survey, etc.);
  2. Low Cost/Low Implementation Time Measures (measures usually
     costing less than $100 and having implementation times of
     less than 30 minutes each);
  3. Moderate Cost/Moderate Implementation Time Measures (up to
     $500 and two weeks each); and
  4. Annual Budget and Long-Term Purchasing Measures.

Copies of the "Checklists" are available from the Trace Research
and Development Center, 1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI  53705.

Whenever initiatives are taken, publicize them as much as
possible: users will follow.  Press vendors to adapt their
products for disabled users.  Write adaptation requirements into
bid specifications.  Look at it this way: if you can deliver the
information a person needs in the format they require, then they
are not disabled.

To keep up with new developments, Ms. Berliss recommended:

  -  "Closing the Gap."  Although oriented toward the special
     education audience, this bimonthly newspaper, with its
     software and hardware reviews and annual resource guide, can
     be very useful for libraries as well.  Published by Closing
     the Gap, Inc., Henderson, MN  56044.

  -  "EASI News For You."  This is the newsletter of EASI (Equal
     Access to Software for Instruction), a Project of the EDUCOM
     Educational Uses of Information Technology (EUIT) Program.
     Contact Ruth Holder, EDUCOM, EUIT Program, 1112 16th Street,
     NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC  20036.  Bitnet: EUIT@educom
Ms. Berliss welcomes inquiries from academic librarians assisting
the disabled.  She may be reached via email:
JANE.BER@applelink.apple.com

*****************************************************************

In other business, John W. King was elected Chair of the Academic
Librarians Assisting the Disabled Discussion Group, ASCLA/LSSPS,
for the 1992-1993 year.  His address is Reference Department,
Hornbake Library, University of Maryland at College Park, College
Park, MD  20742.  Phone: 301/405-9258; Bitnet: JK33@umail.umd.edu

Mr. King's inquiries have revealed that the editor of the column
"News from the Field" in College and Research Libraries News
would welcome items concerning services to users with
disabilities.  Academic librarians assisting the disabled are
encouraged to contribute.

The moderators of LIBREF-L have also welcomed use of their
listserv for the purposes of communication among librarians
assisting the disabled.  All meetings of the Academic Librarians
Assisting the disabled discussion Group are announced on LIBREF-
L.

The Academic Librarians Assisting the Disabled Discussion Group
meets at the American Library Association's annual and midwinter
conferences.  To join our mailing list, send your U.S. Postal
Service address to Margaret Prentice Hecker, Catalog Department,
Blazer Library, Kentucky State University, Frankfort, KY  40601.

Submitted by:
Jim Neeley, Chair (1991-1992)
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU