ALA | What the Tutorial Will Cover

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What the Tutorial Will Cover

Welcome to the ALA Office for Information Technology Policy's online course on Library Accessibility. This tutorial will help librarians begin to understand the range of accessibility issues, especially those arising as libraries provide Internet access and electronic services to patrons. Additionally, this tutorial will suggest best practices for improving library access for patrons with disabilities.

By the conclusion of this course, we hope you will be confident that you can recognize potential accessibility problems as they arise, assist patrons with disabilities to access library services and materials, and take steps to ensure that your library acts responsibly to promote access to its materials and services. The course will equip you with a list of resources you can return to as you monitor this quickly-changing area of law and policy. Please be aware that this course is designed as a survey of the issues and relevant law; your institution should seek legal advice for specific situations that arise.

This tutorial will provide an overview of library accessibility issues, and help libraries identify a set of best practices to improve access to library services for patrons with disabilities. This tutorial will cover a broad range of issues including:

What does accessibility of library materials mean?
General overview of legal requirements for accessibility in a library
Considerations for improving accessibility of library services
Considerations for providing accessible library materials
Accessibility of library web sites
Creating accessible library materials
What limits does copyright law place on creating accessible versions of print materials?
Special considerations for educational libraries and access to educational materials
Upcoming changes in the law
Assistive technologies available for library patrons
Creating an accessibility policy
What is universal design, and how does it apply to libraries?
Accessibility checklist

This tutorial is intended to provide librarians with a real- world understanding of accessibility issues as policies and technologies continue to evolve. It is critical that librarians understand the accessibility concerns as libraries migrate towards digital services.

Each segment of this tutorial will include additional reference material for those readers interested in learning more about a particular accessibility topic.

Further information:

American Library Association:
http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=equityofaccess

Texas Technology Access Project:
http://tatp.edb.utexas.edu/library/libaccess.html

University of Washington, DO-IT:
http://www.washington.edu/doit/UA/PRESENT/libres.html

Southeastern Disability and Business Technical Assistance Center:
http://www.sedbtac.org/ed/index.cfm