NEFLIN Logo - Home

PCI Access and Agency: Welcoming the Disabled Community at Public Libraries (February 2025)

View on Niche Academy
Blue arrow with Customer Service on

From Sensory Storytimes to Disability Justice Book Clubs, libraries around the country push beyond the basics of ADA compliance to welcome disabled patrons at the library. But how do these libraries reach disabled library users and determine their information needs?

In 2023 on behalf of Publishers Weekly, author and public librarian Susan Metallo interviewed librarians about their challenges and successes in serving disabled patrons. In this webinar, Susan shares best practices and lessons-learned from these proactive programs. She also recommends a framework for developing library services that empower the disabled community to engage with the public library, crafted both from her research and from her lived experience as a disabled library-lover.

Learning Objectives
  • Who belongs to the broad and diverse disabled community, how to reach them, and what language and behavior will signal welcome and respect
  • Different marketing strategies for disabled patrons and for non-disabled caregivers of disabled people (e.g., parents of disabled children, family members of patrons with Alzheimers)
  • How to make your collection more accessible and relevant to disabled patrons
  • Strategies for giving disabled patrons agency and input in decisions about services and policies that will affect them

Speaker

Susan Metallo

What We Do At:: People Connect Institute

spacer

Smiling manAndrew Sanderbeck

The team at the People~Connect Institute is focused on helping libraries, library organizations and their employees grow and experience successful outcomes. Our training and consulting recommendations are practical and we offer targeted solutions that bring about measurable results. When you want help in achieving your organizational and strategic goals, we’re here to help with our educational, training and consulting services in:

  • Customer Service, Customer Retention, and Customer Experience
  • Building a Continuous Organizational Improvement Culture (Kaizen)
  • Reader’s Advisory
  • Facility Safety and Security
  • Writing Management, Design, Instruction, and Assessment

logo

Back to Learn Anytime
Category: Brand: ,

Related products