Diversity Group

Diversity Group Conference 2008

Access All Areas?: Disability Issues in Libraries

Programme

Chair - Margaret Watson

10.00 – 10.30 Registration and coffee

10.30 – 11.30 Commissioner Ziauddin Sardar from The Commission for Equalities and Human Rights

11.30 – 12.30 Gloria Foran, National Officer - Disability Policy for UNISON

12.30 – 1.15 Lunch

Choose two workshops from:

Workshop 1– Communicating with deaf people in the library. Margaret Forrest, Academic Liaison Librarian at University of Edinburgh 

Workshop 2 – Disability audits of libraries. Sue White, Access Auditor

Workshop 3 – Disability and social inclusion at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A). Barry Ginley, Disability and Access Officer at the V&A

Workshop 4 - You open a book, you feel warm - a new way for libraries to engage with people affected and isolated by stress, depression and anxiety. John Duffy from Kirklees Libraries

1.15 – 2.30 Workshop session 1

2.30 – 2.50 Tea and Coffee

2.50 – 4.05 Workshop - session 2

4.05 Close Summary of Day - feedback from workshops with two key points from each.

4.15 End of Day
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Workshops

Workshop 1 – ‘Communicating with deaf people in the library.‘ Margaret Forrest, Academic Liaison Librarian, University of Edinburgh

Workshop 1 presentation (MS Powerpoint - 79KB)
Workshop 1 notes by Briony Birdi (MS Word - 23 KB)

Margaret is a deaf librarian who has worked in a variety of libraries in the NHS and in Higher Education, including medical, nursing, public health and patients' libraries. She is a member of CILIP's Equal Opportunities and Diversity Panel and is on the Standing Committee of IFLA's Libraries Serving Disadvantaged Persons Section.

Margaret has a special interested in promoting good practice in library services for people with disabilities. At the University of Dundee she piloted an online module in disability awareness for library staff on the institution's virtual learning environment. She is now working in the University of Edinburgh.


Workshop 2 – ‘Disability audit of libraries.' Susan White

Workshop 2 handout (PDF - 29KB)
Workshop 2 information sources (PDF - 34KB)
Workshop 2 notes (PDF - 21KB)

A practical workshop identifying tools that you can use to help library staff make sure that their libraries become and stay as accessible as possible. It will provide an overview of:
- identifying physical barriers
- access to information
- barriers created by policies and procedures.

Susan White started work in libraries in 1986. Her experience in libraries has included managing a part-time library as a senior library assistant and as a librarian, as a School Librarian at a joint-use library for a secondary school that had an integrated special needs unit, and finally until December 2007, as Senior Librarian - Equal Access for Shropshire Libraries.

She has always been interested in equality of service provision and in 2007 successfully completed a NVQ level 4 qualification as an Access Audit Practitioner. She is now available as an independent Access Auditor specialising in library provision.


Workshop 3 – ‘Disability and social inclusion at the Victoria and Albert Museum.' Barry Ginley, Disability and Access Officer, V&A Museum (V&A) and Andrew Russell National Art Library

The workshop will look at the strategic approach of the V&A to disability and social inclusion, as well as the facilities and services within the V&A museum and in the National Art Library.

Barry became the Disability and Access Officer at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London in November 2002. Before that he was a consultant to the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB) and several property service companies. In 1994, after an eye operation which went wrong, Barry has been visually impaired. In 2001 he studied part time at the University of Reading and got an MSc in Inclusive Environments Design and Management. As the Head of Disability and Social Inclusion at the V&A, Barry wants to improve access for all visitors to the collection.

He is also the chair of the Visually Impaired Spectators Association and represents the RNIB on the UK Governments Football Task Force. He has campaigned to make sports stadia more accessible for people with visual impairments. Barry was also a committee member of the Museums And Galleries Disability Association (MAGDA) and a co-ordinator for Art Beyond Sight, which is based in New York.



Workshop 4 - ‘You open a book, you feel warm - A new way for libraries to engage with people who are affected and isolated by stress, depression and anxiety.’
John Duffy, Kirklees Libraries

Workshop 4 handout (PDF - 129 KB)
Workshop 4 notes by Briony Birdi (MS Word - 26 KB)

John will explore how the Reading and You Scheme (RAYS) is a model for a new way for libraries to engage with people who are affected and isolated by stress, depression and anxiety. He will do this by instruction, reading, discussion and exercises and will use case histories, anecdotes and quotations (such as "You open a book, you feel warm").

John Duffy’s background is in social work and community development work rather than libraries. He worked in these fields in Glasgow, South London, Huddersfield and Bradford for thirty five years, with occasional interruptions as househusband, registered childminder and writer. He has worked as a bibliotherapist for Kirklees since 2000, and he is a founder member of Huddersfield’s Albert Poets. 

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You can download a copy of the Programme and Booking Form here:  
Programme and Booking form (MS Word - 245KB)
Programme and Booking form (PDF - 243KB)

Please email Rebecca Graham if you would like the Programme and Booking Form in larger text: rebecca.graham@wolverhampton.gov.uk  

For more information about the conference contact Karen Berry on Tel. 024 7683 1625
Email: Karen.berry@coventry.gov.uk