As student bodies in both further and higher education continue to diversify, how should library services respond in order to meet learners’ needs and ensure that all students have a successful educational experience? This was the question at the core of last week’s joint CoFHE Mid-West and UC&R BBO event, ‘It Takes All Sorts’. Held at the University of Reading, the event was attended by around 30 library professionals from the FE and HE sectors, with locally-based members joining delegates from further afield including the Isle of Wight, Nottingham and Sheffield.

Kate Williams , Learning Manager of the Upgrade Study Advice Service at Oxford Brookes University, was the first speaker of the day. Kate presented on the topic of supporting study skills and criticality for the diverse range of students in higher education.The talk began with a fundamental question that librarians need to ask if they are to best support today’s diverse learners: WHO are our students? The responses from around the room succinctly demonstrated just how diverse our student body is - mature, part-time, distance, work-based, international, students with special educational needs....the list seems endless.

Whilst it is easy to ‘lump’ groups of students together, it is also potentially detrimental to their learning as there is now such diversification within these groups; for example, the members of a university’s body of masters students will have taken many different routes to get to the point that they are at now.There is a danger that we are too readily making assumptions about a student, and therefore may have unrealistic expectations of them. In addition, while some groups are perhaps more widely recognised as having specific support requirements, for example mature and international students, other groups remain overlooked, with Kate making the valid point that young UK males are amongst the most problematic and disengaged learners.

In light of these potential issues, Kate emphasised that our understanding should begin with seeing the student as an individual learner with individual needs.To achieve this, she suggests thatwe need to consider where each student is now and where they want or need to be.The group activity focused on identifying the points at which librarians can provide support during the learning process. Using extracts from a series of pocket study guides of which Kate is co-author, we were asked to think of the issues facing librarians when helping learners ‘get from A to B’. The challenges presented in the feedback indicated that there was a need for library services to work more closely with academic teams, an idea unlikely to be surprising to most library professionals working within FE and HE, and a topic that is certainly worthy of further discussion. Also of note was the consensus that FE and HE sectors need to better liaise, an idea already recognised by this joint event.

Following Kate was Caroline Moughton , also of Oxford Brookes University. Caroline’s role as Equal Opportunities and Diversity Coordinator and Student Disability Adviser makes her an authoritative voice on how best to develop an inclusive library service. The presentation began with a recap of diverse learners as well as a reminder of our legal responsibility, as librarians and information professionals, to support students under the Equality Act. Between the group, the nine characteristics protected by the Act were identified: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

The session centred on an activity in which we were asked to discuss the major barriers to students using libraries, with each group assigned one of the key barriers: physical, expectations of students, library systems, and library materials. The activity provoked lively debate amongst the groups, with the feedback session providing some interesting observations, as well as potential solutions. Whilst there was uniform recognition of the need for libraries to be welcoming to everyone, there were also expressions of concern over how to achieve the right balance in supporting all users equally.

Caroline explained that an inclusive, inviting and less intimidating library can start with simple changes to procedures that are often embedded in our services – for example, librarians tend to use jargon that is not necessarily intuitive to students. Caroline further highlighted how the process of engaging with a library is often emotional and encouraged us to consider the library from a student perspective. Again, this echoes Kate’s assertion that, in making assumptions about students rather than finding out their real needs, we risk alienating or intimidating them rather than providing much-needed support. There followed a fruitful discussion among delegates regarding the best methods of collection of feedback from students, with responses indicating that libraries are attempting to use innovative ways to collect such valuable information, ranging from the use of emotional mapping to the implementation of pop-up boxes on library catalogues.

Caroline summed up her presentation with the inspirational message that, while supporting diverse learners is not without its challenges and issues, it can be extremely satisfying to see users thrive in librariesand, consequently, have a direct positive impact on their learning.

After a restorative buffet lunch, Christopher Cipkin , Honorary Secretary of UC&R and former chair of CoFHE Mid-West, provided an update on the merger plans for CoFHE and UC&R. Following a brief overview of the reasoning behind the changes (essentially the increased financial pressures on CILIP), Christopher imparted a clear message that the plans for CoFHE and UC&R should not be seen as a "merger" but, instead, as the dissolving of two groups to create a new group. A proposed name for the new group was revealed as ‘Academic and Research Libraries Group’. Christopher then opened the floor to address any questions or concerns that members of CoFHE and UC&R had regarding the changes.

The penultimate speaker was Darren Hirst, Accessibility Technology Lead at Chesterfield College. Darren drew upon his extensive background in teaching disabled studentsto speak about understanding the challenges and anticipating the needs of disabled learners. When we think of accessibility issues for disabled learners in the library, it is perhaps intuitive to consider the physical environment. However, in times of technology-rich learning, we need to go beyond the physical to the virtual world by considering, for example, the accessibility of our VLEs and library systems.

Darren began by identifying four types of disabilities: visual, hearing, mobility and cognitive. This presentation focused on the visual, using the example of how the blind interact with computer systems using a screen reader. Following a short film, Darren explained how the effectiveness of screen readers are challenged by the formatting of documents, alt text and links. Again, a key message was that small details can makea big difference to disabled learners. It is all too easy to overlook simple procedures that create common barriers for the disabled – for example, I had not considered how using the Headings tool in Word (rather than changing font sizes of titles) increases the accessibility of a document.The provision of links to free tools was very useful, including ‘Create & Convert’ to create accessible documents, and The Wave to test the accessibility of VLEs.

Crucially, Darren stressed the central role librarians have to play in promoting inclusivity, an idea recognised by JISC’s key actions to assist disabled users. It was a motivating session which successfully highlighted how accessibility should be encouraged at all levels of a library service, and not be left to one or two maverick individuals.

After a tea break, it was time for the final speaker of the day. Fiona Moore is Programme Leader for Work Preparation at LLD/D (Learners with Learning Difficulties and/or Disabilities) at Reading College; LLD/D is a specialised unit within Reading College which aims to "educate, motivate and build the confidence and self-esteem" of students.

Fiona’s presentation focused on learners with autism and Asperger syndrome and began with a worksheet in which we were asked to decide whether statements relating to autism were true or false. The task demonstrated how autism is widely misunderstood and how common myths about the condition abound,which is perhaps unsurprising if we consider the high-profile media coverage of controversial medical opinion relating to this lifelong developmental disability. We were then provided with a helpful factsheet detailing key characteristics of Asperger syndrome. Despite common traits, it is important to recognise that every person with autism is different, again reflecting the necessityto support our learners as individuals.

As with the previous speakers, Fiona emphasised the need for librarians to consider the library from another perspective and reiterated the message that small details and awareness can make a huge difference to disabled learners. In particular, change in routine can cause learners with autism and Asperger syndrome great anxiety, therefore librarians need to be sure to clearly communicate any alterations to the service. The physical environment of the library is particularly important; characteristics of autism include sensitivity to lighting, smells and noise and, after the event, I found myself wondering how the current trend to incorporate social learning environments in HE libraries impacts autistic learners, particularly the introduction of flexi-spaces andthe changing ‘rules’ of libraries which increasingly allow noise, eating and drinking. Fiona helpfully recommended the National Autistic Society’s guide to"Creating an Autism-friendly Environment" for anyone also interested in further reading on the topic.

Balancing the needs of all learners is a huge challenge for library professionals, and it is clear that library services will need to continue to adapt to growing needs. Inclusivity and accessibility should be central to our aim of supporting all learners and a clear message resonating throughout the day was that an understanding of who our student body is, and the individual needs of learners, is crucial to supporting our diverse users. Supporting all students begins with awareness and empathy; making changes that encourage best practice throughout our services, together withan openness to adopting new ways of working, are essential if we are to make our libraries welcoming and accessible to all.

Finally, many thanks to the CoFHE and UC&R committees for arranging an engaging and thought-provoking event on a fundamental yet, at times, neglected topic.

Katy Fletcher.