Dear Bryna, Margaret and everyone else!
I won't be able to make it to San Diego (even though the change in
climate would do me good). I wonder whether there is sufficient time at
your meeting to address ACRL's Guidelines for Distance Learning Library
Services, which unfortunately do not address the need for accessibility
at all. During the past two years, I have raised the issue in both
presentations and publications, but nothing seems to have come out of
it. Is there any way that ASCLA/LSSPS could discuss the issue and,
perhaps, pass some kind of official resolution to the ALA-ACRL Distance
Education Section, urging its members to revisit their guidelines and
make them more inclusive? I'd be happy to speak to any of their members
and to make some specific suggestions.
What follows is the pertinent section of my presentation given at the
2001 ACRL conference in Denver. (The full text is available at
http://www.ala.org/Content/NavigationMenu/ACRL/Events_and_Conferences/sc
hmetzke.pdf in text-pdf format or, upon request, in Word/ASCII format):
Beginning of quote:
..... This said, let me turn to the Association of College and
Research Libraries' (ACRL) very own "Guidelines for distance learning
library services." These guidelines not only reflect the professional
views of the broader library and higher-education community, but they
have also been influential in shaping individual libraries' policies and
practices.
Given the broad-based input that led to the latest major (1998)
revision of the ACRL "Guidelines," it is surprising that nowhere in its
ten sections is accessibility for students with disabilities addressed.
This also applies to the most recent version (2000): While the
philosophy section underscores that "access to adequate library services
and resources is essential" and the services section requires that
library services "should be designed to meet effectively a wide range of
informational, bibliographic, and user needs," disability-related access
needs are not mentioned. One could argue that this is simply an issue
too specific to be explicitly addressed in such a broad document, that
this issue is covered by the general language of the "Guidelines," or
that it is the task of other regulations, such as the ADA or
disability-related campus policies, to address this issue. Such
arguments are not very convincing-for two reasons: (1) The ACRL
guidelines do address other specific issues, such as copyright fair use
policy. Just as the authors of the "Guidelines" deemed it important to
emphasize that "access to reserve materials" must be provided "in
accordance with copyright fair use policy," could they not have included
a similar statement that calls for universal design of online resources
in accordance with the spirit of the ADA? (2) The low degree of
accessibility of web pages found on distance education sites clearly
indicates that most players involved in distance education lack
awareness in this area. General language in policy documents may suffice
when those who try to follow them already understand what is implied by
the broader terms. But this is certainly not the case with regard to
accessibility. Most librarians who read the current ACRL "Guidelines,"
or use them as the basis for their own policies, are likely to construe
the mandate to provide "access to adequate library services and
resources" only in terms of connectivity-as a mandate to provide
off-campus access to the library network and the online resources for
which it serves as a gateway. At the present, the additional concern
that these very resources are only fully accessible if they have been
properly designed does not occur to most distance-educators and
librarians. The issue of accessible design of basic online library tools
and instructional material is simply not on their radar screen. In order
to get it there, another revision to the ACRL "Guidelines" needs to be
made-inconvenient as this process may be. Such inconvenience is nothing
in comparison to the sheer violation of rights currently experienced by
many students with disabilities, who have computers in their homes, with
modems that can connect them to campus/library networks and screen
readers that could, potentially, enable them to utilize all the
resources needed to succeed in academic programs-if the people who
designed these resources, or who selected them, had been aware of
everyone's needs.
End of quote
Greetings, and a Happy New Year to you all.
Axel
********************
Axel Schmetzke, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Library
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
900 Reserve
Stevens Point, WI 54481
715-346-4658
[log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: EASI's Library Accessibility Discussion List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Coonin, Bryna
Sent: Monday, December 15, 2003 1:22 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Discussion Group at ALA Midwinter
Margaret --
Happy to do it! When on AXS-LIB maybe you can ask if there's anyone
interested in taking over as chair or co-chairing, perhaps -- see if we
get
a nibble. I'm up to my eyeballs at the moment and don't expect much
relief
in the next year or so or would certainly offer. It's just out of the
question right now.
Do you have a room reserved? Let me know what you want to see on the
agenda.
If it would help I'll put together a quick bib of recent articles that
have
appeared that might be of interest to the group to distribute.
Thanks again for all your work keeping the group together! Hope you'll
be
up playing hopscotch soon.
BC
-----Original Message-----
From: Margaret Brill [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, December 15, 2003 2:05 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Discussion Group at ALA Midwinter
Bryna:
Thank you very much for offering to chair the group. You will be
perfect!
I hadn't come up with an agenda as yet - I was going to send out a
message
to AXS-LIB about that, but one item is to see if anyone else is
interested
in taking over as chair. I hadn't been planning to go to Orlando but I
might now I'm not going to San Diego. I'll tell Cathleen Bourdin that
you
are going to do it,
Margaret
--On Thursday, December 11, 2003 11:30 AM -0500 "Coonin, Bryna"
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Margaret --
> I will be in San Diego and would be happy to chair the discussion
group.
> Waiting until Orlando is OK, too, if folks would prefer that option.
Take
> care of yourself!
>
> Bryna
>
> Bryna Coonin
> Joyner Library
> East Carolina University
> Greenville, NC 27858
> Phone: 252.328.0431
> E-mail: [log in to unmask]
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Margaret Brill [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2003 10:41 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Discussion Group at ALA Midwinter
>
> I am the current Chair of the Discussion Group Academic Libraries
> Accessibility and Disability Services (ASCLA LSSPS)and I had scheduled
a
> meeting for 8-9 AM Sunday morning. However, ironically, I have had
to
> cancel my trip to San Diego because of a broken knee. It's healing
well,
> but that long trip would be out of the question.
> So I am wondering whether anyone else would be willing and able to
chair
> the group or whether I should simply reschedule it for Orlando (I had
not
> scheduled a meeting for Orlando because I thought Midwinter was a
better
> time to hold it).
> Thanks,
>
> Margaret Brill
> Head, Reference Department
> Box 90175
> Perkins Library
> Duke University
> Durham, NC 27708-0175
> Email: [log in to unmask]
> Phone: 919-660-9125
> Fax: 919-684-0155
>
> ---------------------------
> Check out EASI New Synchronous Clinics:
> http://easi.cc/clinic.htm
> EASI Home Page http://www.rit.edu/~easi
> Online courses and Clinics http://easi.cc/workshop.htm
> Check the EASI Library Web http://www.rit.edu/~easi/lib.htm
>
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> -> . . . . . . . . . <-
>
> ---------------------------
> Check out EASI New Synchronous Clinics:
> http://easi.cc/clinic.htm
> EASI Home Page http://www.rit.edu/~easi
> Online courses and Clinics http://easi.cc/workshop.htm
> Check the EASI Library Web http://www.rit.edu/~easi/lib.htm
>
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> -> . . . . . . . . . <-
>
---------------------------
Check out EASI New Synchronous Clinics:
http://easi.cc/clinic.htm
EASI Home Page http://www.rit.edu/~easi
Online courses and Clinics http://easi.cc/workshop.htm
Check the EASI Library Web http://www.rit.edu/~easi/lib.htm
>>> Error in line 8 of AXSLIB-L.MAILTPL: unknown formatting command <<<
-> . . . . . . . . . <-
---------------------------
Check out EASI New Synchronous Clinics:
http://easi.cc/clinic.htm
EASI Home Page http://www.rit.edu/~easi
Online courses and Clinics http://easi.cc/workshop.htm
Check the EASI Library Web http://www.rit.edu/~easi/lib.htm
>>> Error in line 8 of AXSLIB-L.MAILTPL: unknown formatting command <<<
-> . . . . . . . . . <-
---------------------------
Check out EASI New Synchronous Clinics:
http://easi.cc/clinic.htm
EASI Home Page http://www.rit.edu/~easi
Online courses and Clinics http://easi.cc/workshop.htm
Check the EASI Library Web http://www.rit.edu/~easi/lib.htm
>>> Error in line 8 of AXSLIB-L.MAILTPL: unknown formatting command <<<
-> . . . . . . . . . <-
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