In a recent study, school librarians in the state of New York gave themselves very low marks on serving the needs of students with disabilities. My guess is that most of us in public libraries are in the same boat–it is hard to know enough about various disabilities and possible accommodations to feel like we are truly serving everyone in the community.
I was delighted to discover (thank, School Library Journal!) a program called Project ENABLE (Expanding Nondiscriminatory Access by Librarians Everywhere), created by the Syracuse University’s School of Library and Information Studies. Project ENABLE offers online, free, self-paced learning modules, with videos, activities, and assessments. The project is specifically designed for school librarians, but it is very relevant to public librarians, as well. I’m excited to check out all the modules, but so far, so good!
I’d be interested to hear what others think!