Yes, this is what I was going to suggest: is there is a particular problem that could be resolved by providing new equipment, such as a screen reader or adaptive equipment for computers, scanner/reader, or something of the like.  

How is this excessive time being spent?  Is there a special position that can be created, via a grant, to help these patrons?  Can a non-librarian paraprofessional assist these individuals in some ways, freeing up the librarians to answer reference questions, and do more tasks that require professional experience, etc.?


Karen McCandlish
Leroy V Good Library
Monroe Community College
Rochester, NY



-----Original Message-----
From: Audrey Gorman [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, January 18, 2002 5:16 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Limits to Time Spent With Patron?


Thanks for the clarification.  However, though the face of the policy
wouldn't be discriminatory, the actual effect might well still be.

It's possible that some changes in reference approaches, hardware,
and/or software would go further toward relieving the staff and giving
users nedded services?  Has the staff been trained in service
approaches that are better for all but especially helpful to people
with disabilities? Perhaps there's a cluster of difficulties around a
particular disability or group of related disabilities, e.g reading of
standard print, that would suggest both service changes and training
topics.

If the problem is one or two specific people, please don't change a
whole policy just because of them.  Over 30-odd years of librarianship
I've seen this approach proposed to deal with children, young adults,
homeless adults, and other groups when individual solutions were what
was needed.

That said, there are some libraries that limit staff time with
individual patrons during certain, defined busy times.  In most cases
where I've encountered this, however, it was an informal rule of
thumb, not a written policy.  Be careful of this approach, since such
"rules" can proliferate inappropriately and at to suit individual
tastes.

I'm glad you've taken this question to this forum.  I wish more people
would realize that there is potential for difficulty in such areas.

Regards,
Audrey

> Actually I wasn't planning to make a policy that says "library staff
will
> only spend x hours per day per patron with a disability".  Because
our
> problem is mainly with people with disabilities, I'm trying to
figure out
> what is a reasonable amount of time per day for library staff to
spend with
> patrons with disabilities, then we will make a library policy that
says
> something along the lines of "library staff are not able to spend
more than
> x hours per day per patron".
>   Katherine Rankin
>   University of Nevada, Las Vegas Libraries
>