F02: Accessible Library Service from the Bottom Up
Session Description
If you were designing your public library to be welcoming to everyone in your community, including readers with print disabilities (those who need a format other than standard print books), where would you start, what would you consider, and what would you do?
Occupational Therapist and doctoral candidate Laura Yvonne Bulk will explain her work with the participatory project, Being Blind (https://www.grad.ubc.ca/campus-community/meet-our-students/bulk-laura-yvonne). She will discuss her research into blind peoples' experiences of belonging in academia, and how people, including librarians, can challenge these misperceptions.
NNELS Public Services Librarian Sabina Iseli-Otto will discuss topics related to a public library’s policy and collection, including some specifics of using the formats found in the NNELS collection, and how to engage the community in a book-recording program.
Speakers
Sabina Iseli-Otto
Biography
Sabina Iseli-Otto is the Public Services Librarian for the National Network for Equitable Library Service (NNELS). Sabina works with librarians across Canada to help provide material in accessible formats for patrons with print disabilities. She lives in rural Alberta.
Laura Yvonne Bulk
Biography
Laura Yvonne Bulk (@LYBOT) is a friend, learner, woman, disabled person, occupational therapist, Christian, scholar, advocate, and teacher. Her work focuses on enhancing diversity and understanding, and promoting human dignity and flourishing. As a public scholar, Laura aims to benefit the wider community and the academic and clinical community, making purposeful social contributions and employing innovative forms of collaborative scholarship. She works in the areas of being blind and belonging in academia; quality of life in end-of-life care; inclusion of disabled people in healthcare professions; and the use of creative methods and cross-sectoral partnerships to do research for the public good.