by Marsha Werle, Director, Emmett (Idaho) Public Library; mwerle@family.net
Reprinted from the Jan/Feb 2003 issue of Public Libraries magazine, which contains many excellent articles on meeting the needs of library patrons with disabilites.
Libraries must meet the challenge of serving all patrons in their community, including people with disabilities. It is shameful that is has to take a law to get businesses, schools, and libraries to comply with standards of excellence for those with disabilities. However, law can give librarians a tool to bring to our library boards to promote change through remodeling, materials, equipment, signage, and attitude.
The staff and board of trustees of the Emmett (Idaho) Public Library (EPL) were prompted to imagine we were confined to a wheelchair and had to answer nature's call, immediately, but there were not facilities specially equipped for our needs. If that is not a stressful enough situation, we imagined ourselves blind, needing reference information, and in unfamiliar surroundings. Then, we imagined having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Down Syndrome, autism, or Tourette's Syndrome. Would we feel welcome at our library? Would we feel welcome anywhere? Would we even leave home?
Our city-operated library was constructed in 1972. As is true of most small libraries, it has always been short of funds to meet the nees of all its patrons. The staff and board of trustees wanted to do something to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) signed into law on July 26, 1990. There were arguments that our library was built before any of these requirements were issued. Did that point help challenged members of our community? No.
Throughout the first part of the 1990s, we asked ourselves what we could do with little or no money. It was a slow process, but we gradually began accomplishing things.
We were fortunate that the original architect made the single-story building accessible all the way from the parking lots. We asked the City of Emmett to paint handicapped parking spaces in our two parking lots. This was done for free.
We installed an inexpensive, battery-operated doorbell on our front door for those who need assistance in opening doors. Grants and donations provided money to accomplish several projects. Our swinging front doors were hard to pull open, so we put in new, easy-opening arms. This unit was expensive, but the doors now open with light pressure.
We replaced doorknob handles throughout the library with lever handles. The locksmith was able to obtain used commerical handles at about half the cost of new.
One of our former library board members worked for a nursing home. She brought a large wheelchair into the library and we tested the library entrance, aisles between the book stacks, doorways and bathrooms. Our doors all passed and there was only one questionable aisle. The staff and public bathrooms were unusable, however. The doors would not even close. We asked the Idaho Division of Vocational Rehabilitation to send someone to our library to do a survey. The surveyor's recommendations included adding international access sign symbols and Braille imprints and remodeling the bathrooms for handicapped access. In addition, we needed to improve the height of bars, dispensers, mirrors, stools, and sinks in the bathrooms to meet ADA standards. He advised us that electric wheelchairs required the most room to maneuver. We spent two years consulting architects. We were puzzled about whether to remodel the old bathrooms or build new ones. We also had to decide whether to add on to the building or work in our existing space.
The deadline for meeting ADA standards came and went. All we could do was to report our efforts. This we did. Once a decision had been made to solve our problems, it took three years of concentrated fund-raising and grant writing to produce two new ADA-compliant bathrooms in our existing conference room by the year 2000.
We purchased an adjustable table on wheels and put it at wheelchair height so patrons with disabilities could fill out library cards, do research, and so forth. Our patrons have free use of large print software and Internet services on four out of eight public computer stations. The other four free stations will have that ability when we upgrade the software.
Two members of our community passed away and left the library Optelec 20/20 and Aladdin TeleSensory machines, which magnify images from such items as printed materials, prescription bottles, checkbooks, and photographs. The two machines are available to all patrons. When we had to replace our old water fountain, we made certain that the new one was handicapped accessible.
For more than twenty-five years, we have kept our vision-impaired patrons in mind. In addition to our growing large-print collection, we receive a borrowed large-print collection from the Idaho State Library (ISL), which is located in Boise, about forty minutes away. A patron voluntarily goes to the state library every three months to borrow fifty large-print books for the library, hauling them all herself. She says that way she can be assured of having sufficient material she likes to read. She always honors the requests of other patrons. Before she volunteered, the librarians replenished the borrowed collection from the state library. The Friends of the Library have given continued support by providing subscriptions of large-print books for the patrons in additon to the books the library purchases in this category. Several grants have added materials to the area.
We have increased our audiotape collection for both blind and sighted patrons. We participate in a consortium of libraries in the area that trades about sixty tapes every two months. This gives our patrons an even larger selection than our own from which to choose. Ever since ISl began offering its collection of audio tapes and special tape machines to the blind and handicapped, the library staff has encouraged and instructed patrons in need of this service on how to access it.
For the last two years, EPL has worked with Community Partnerships (CP), a private business that provides developmental therapy for individuals with disabilities. CP brings clients of various ages to the library daily to use community resources to teach their clients how to live effectively. Clients use the library conference room to eat lunch and work. The rest of the library is used to do research, practice living skills, and access the computers. CP raised half the money, and the library chipped in the other half, to purchase two independent-living software programs with sufficient licensing for the library computers. The two programs provide lessons such as using money, shopping, and using the telephone for users with various levels of learning. We installed both programs on all of our public computers. They are currently being used by CP clients and by other children, teens, and adults who wish to learn basic living skills.
International symbol of access signs with Braille imprints now hang on the library walls. Consider simplified signs for your library that feature large print and pictures not only for the vision-impaired but for illiterate patrons wishing to learn to read. Display signs that show the librarians' willingness to help and that encourage all patrons to ask for help.
Ten years ago, we had an average of two wheelchairs enter the library each year. Today, at least one enters daily, and several others frequent our establishment. Every time a challenged person thanks our staff for having an accessible bathroom, a really cool software program, or a good selection of books, we feel a sense of accomplishment to have made it all available.
Many of us take our freedom of movement and thought for granted. Those who are challenged every day of their lives need to be given the consideration of others. If your library does not instigate the changes needed to provide that consideration, who will?