Advocacy and Continuing Education

The Advocacy and Education subgroup focuses on providing resources, tools, and skills necessary for librarians, archivists, records managers, and other GLAM professionals to advocate for, as well as support accessibility within their organizations. This DAWG subgroup organizes events for presentations, demonstrations, discussions, and other learning activities for digital library practitioners working in areas relating to or intersecting with issues of accessibility and technology. Our focus is on pedagogy as advocacy, raising awareness and educating practitioners on emerging opportunities and barriers faced by disabled people, as well as ethical use of open source products, including assistive technologies.

Group Facilitators

• Bryan Birchmeier, University of Michigan (2024–present)
• Adele Fitzgerald, St. Joseph's University, New York (June 2021–present)
• Alex Wermer-Colan, Temple University (2020–2024)
• Mark Weiler, Wilfrid Laurier University (2020–May 2021)

Upcoming Events

• TBA.

2026 events TBA.

Previous Events

• 2025-11-23: VPAT Interpretation and Scoring lead by Jane Berliss-Vincent - has recording
• 2025-10-02: Accessibility_Ambassadors_Project_Overview,_Recorded_10_2_25 presented by Tiffany Harris and Bryan Birchmeier
• 2025-05-28: Accessibility Services: ARP, Accessible Copies and Consultations presented by Bryan Birchmeier
• 2024-11-14: How is your ADA Title II Plan Going?
• 2024-07-17: Group Discussion about recently updated ADA Title II Regulations.
• 2024-04-24: Discussion about Advocacy Successes and Failures, not recorded.
• 2023-11-09: The Intersection of Copyright and Accessibility, presented by Carli Spina.
• 2023-10-03: DAWG Advocacy & Education Group and the DLF Cultural Assessment Group joint article discussion on Metadata and universal access in digital library environment by Wondwossem Mulualem Beyene.
• 2023-03-27 Article Discussion on Captioning led by Abigail Norris-Davidson - Norris-Davidson, Abigail and Emanuel, Michelle, "Caption This: Creating Efficiency in Audiovisual Accessibility Using Automatic Speech Recognition Toolkit" (2021). Library Publications. 18
• 2023-03-08 VPAT Interpretation presentation, led by Jane Berliss-Vincent
• 2022-09-29 PDF remediation presentation/discussion recording Speakers Aneta Kwak, Jonathan Milam & Mark Weiler, with additional support from Ashley Shaw, Matt Thomas & Bart Kawula
• 2022-05-05 Discussion of Digital Equity, led by Don Michael, Central Piedmont Community College. Recording — Slides
• 2022-03-24 Introduction to the Auditing Shortlist - presented by Kristen Heldmann and [Debbie Krahmer
• 2022-02-24 Discussed challenges of Alt text in libraries and digital collections/exhibits - discussion lead by Wendy Robertson (she/her) and Adele Fitzgerald (her/her) - links shared (Google doc)
• 2021-10-12 Discussed the article “Barriers to Supporting Accessible VR in Academic Libraries” by Jasmine Clark and Zack Lischer-Katz, The Journal of Interactive Technology & Pedagogy (20 May 2020))
• 2021-07-08: Discussion -- Reflecting on the Pandemic's Effects on Digital Accessibility
• 2021-04-29: Penniphurr Stevenson (she/her) led an informal learning session on using MARC to enhance records for accessibility Resources (Google doc)
• 2021-03-19: Abigail Sachs (she/her) led a discussion of ableism in the LIS field. Resources (Google doc)
• 2021-02-25: Demonstration of JAWS by Mark Weiler (sighted, JAWS certified librarian) and Daniella Levy-Pinto, a JAWS user for more than two decades in academic and professional settings. She is the projects coordinator for the National Network for Library Service (NNELS)
• 2021-01-27: Discussed the article "Teleconference Accessibility and Guidelines for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Users" by Raja S. Kushalnagar and Christian Vogler - https://doi.org/10.1145/3373625.3417299 - Discussion facilitator was Adele Fitzgerald
• 2020-10-12: Inclusive Design and Accessible Exhibits: Some Guidance for Libraries, Galleries, and Museums -- webinar by Sina Bahram -- YouTube recording

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