Wendy and Axel and all,
The ALA Office for Diversity has been in the forefront of including people
with disabilities (PWDs) in the definition of diversity. PWDs were even
represented at the very first Diversity Congress at ALA Midwinter 2000. I
think that some of Axel's initial impression is due not only to the need
for more response, but also to the terminology used. "People with
Different Abilities" is not a term widely used or accepted when referring
to people with disabilities. I suggest changing it to "People with
Disabilities" so that the intent is clear to all who visit the site.
Let's help both the Office for Diversity and the Office for Literacy and
Outreach Services (OLOS - see www.ala.org/olos) get more accessibility
content on their sites. OLOS is considering starting a Subcommittee on
People with Disabilities and is committed to working on accessibility
issues too.
Let's also help ASCLA, the Association for Specialized and Cooperative
Library Agencies, which was my home when I worked at ALA. See
www.ala.org/ascla, especially the "Issues" section and the work of relevant
groups such as the ADA Assembly and various sections that focus on PWDs.
ASCLA is also the home of the Century Scholarship, which strives to
recruit people with disabilities to the library profession by providing
funds to library school students with disabilities. See
http://www.ala.org/ascla/centuryscholarship.html
Audrey
On Friday, December 07, 2001 3:47 PM, Schmetzke, Axel
[SMTP:[log in to unmask]] wrote:
> Dear Wendy,
>
> Thank you very much for your friendly response. I'm glad to hear that
> the ALA Office for Diversity website is meant to reflect the full
> spectrum of diversity. Your efforts to make your site accessible to
> people using assistive technology clearly show and are very much
> appreciated.
>
> Axslib-l members: Don't forget to send program and event
> announcements,nominations and article suggestions to the following
> address:
> [log in to unmask]
>
> Axel
>
>
> *********************
> Axel Schmetzke, Ph.D.
> Associate Professor
> Library
> University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
> 900 Reserve
> Stevens Point, WI 54481
> [log in to unmask]
> Tel: 715-346-4658
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Diversity [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Monday, December 03, 2001 9:50 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]; Schmetzke, Axel
> Subject: Re: ALA Office for Diversity Website
>
> Dear Mr. Schmetzke,
> Thank you for visiting the Office for Diversity site and for your
> feedback. Indeed, any abscence of the information you desire was not by
> design. It is our attempt to reflect the totality of diversity, but the
> content of this site (as a site meant to reflect the work of our
> members) is dependent on feedback. I did not receive any responses from
> Audrey Gorman's preliminary message. I welcome any and all comments and
> enthusiastically second your encouragement for people to nominate
> members and submit their publications, programs and events to be
> featured. In the meantime, please note that the diversity online
> library resources section of the
> site(http://www.ala.org/diversity/divonlinelib.html) does feature a
> section focused on People with Different Abilities, a section for
> different sexual orientations, and a section on overarching diversity
> issues in addition to ethnic and cultural diversity sections. Also, the
> Century Scholarship is featured on our resources for MLIS students
> page.(http://www.ala.org/diversity/student.html#scholarship
> Lastly, I have undergone some web accessibility training and have
> attempted to design a site that is accessible and user-friendly for all
> people. I have utilized my training and traditional web based
> evaluations, and I continue to desire the human feedback of everyone
> accessing the site through diverse means to ensure that I am indeed
> meeting accessibility standards.
> The current site reflects my humble attempt through design and content
> to be as inclusive as possible working with what resources I was able to
> find. I look forward to expanding my knowledge of what is available
> with your help and in turn sharing and educating the entirety of ALA
> about all facets of diversity through our website. Thank you in advance
> to everyone who empowers me to achieve the goal of creating a truly
> diverse, accessible and informative web presence for this Office.
> Sincerely,
> Wendy Prellwitz
> Communications Officer
> Office for Diversity & Spectrum Initiative
> 1.800.545.2433 ext. 5048
> [log in to unmask]
> >>> "Schmetzke, Axel" <[log in to unmask]> 11/30/01 06:18PM >>>
> I just visited the ALA Office for Diversity Website mentioned in the
> message below that Audrey had forwarded to this forum about a month ago.
> Unfortunately, I could not find any evidence that, on this site,
> diversity is conceptualized in terms other than ethnicity, race,
> nationality or culture. I have no reason to assume that the absence of
> references to people with disabilities (and other groups) happened by
> design. Let us help the Office for Diversity to put disability on its
> map
> -by informing its staff about public programs, events, conferences,
> special exhibitions, etc. that involve pertinent disability-related
> library issues.
> -by nominating ALA members promoting disability-related diversity issues
> in the field of librarianship for the site's "member spotlight."
> -by suggesting articles dealing with disability-related issues in
> libraries.
>
> The Office for Diversity's main homepage is at
> http://www.ala.org/diversity/. Send program and event announcements,
> nominations and article suggestions to the following address:
> [log in to unmask]
>
> Greetings,
>
> Axel Schmetzke
> University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Audrey Gorman [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2001 1:29 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Call for info: Events & more related to diversity
>
> Please spread the word...and let them know about any disability-related
> things that fit.
> ............
> Hello everyone,
> As part of the new Office for Diversity Website (coming soon, stay tuned
> for a launch announcement), we want to make sure we highlight all
> member/division/affiliate events focusing on diversity. If you know of a
> public program, event, conference, special exhibition, collection debut,
> anything taking place in the next 6 months, please let me know. Thank
> you for your time, we're very excited about providing this resource to
> members and staff alike.
>
> Wendy Prellwitz
> Communications Officer
> Office for Diversity & Spectrum Initiative
> ALA
> 1.800.545.2433 x. 5048
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