Advocacy and Continuing Education
The Advocacy and Education subgroup will focus 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 group will share information pertaining to:
- Guidelines for web accessibility, such as WCAG 2.x
- Responding to existing and emerging barriers faced by disabled persons
- Advocacy and Outreach work
- Forum Preparation
- Ethical Use of open source products, including assistive technologies
- Other areas as determined by the group
Group Facilitators
- Alex Wermer-Colan, Temple University (2020– )
- Adele Fitzgerald, St. Joseph's University, New York (June 2021– )
- Mark Weiler, Wilfrid Laurier University (2020–May 2021)
Previous Events
- 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