Standing Committee Mid-year meeting in Washingthon D.C.

Library Services to People with Special Needs Section

SC1: 9:00-11:00 on March 9, 2017 at Gallaudet University

SC2: 9:00-17:30 on March 10, 2017 at the Library of Congress

 

Minutes

1. Welcome and Introductions

a. Sarah Hamrick, Director of Library and Public Services at the Merril Learning Center at Gallaudet University

 2. Attendance and Apologies

a. Present in person or via skype 
Misako Nomura, Chair
Nancy Bolt, Secretary
Erlend Ra, Information Officer
Christopher  Corrigan, Meeting organizer
Marie-Noelle Andissac
Heidi Carlsson Asplund
Marie Engberg Eiriksson
Knut Nygaard
Anne Sieberns
Paola Francisca Santibanez Morales, First meeting via skype
Marti Goddad, observer, Second meeting, San Francisco Public Library
Sandy Cohen, observer, Second meeting, Nashville Public Library

b. Apologies
Helle Arendrup Mortensen
Sanja Bunic
Helen Chan (new member)

3. Approval of the Agenda

a. Chris moved approval of the agenda
Marie seconded
The agenda was approved,

4. Minutes of August 2016 SC Meetings in Columbus

a. Erlend corrected title to say Minutes rather than Agenda
Isabel Gutierrez Sanchez had attended and was added to the attendance list
Corrigan moved approval of the minutes
Erlend seconded
The minutes were approved

b. Items arisen from the minutes.
Brochure, discussed under Information and Publications

5. Chair’s Report (including financial report)

a. Finances
We have E100 for LSN administrative costs
We have E1800 for the Workshop on Deaf and the Hard of Hearing but it is not enough. Chris has paid for food for the speakers and other LSN members contributed to paying for this expense.

b. LSN has been invited to send two representatives to a meeting in Athens, Greece to help develop a 10 year vision for IFLA.  To better communicate with its units and members, hey are suggesting the use of a product called Basecamp for section communication and Zoom for online meetings.  LSN Standing Committee (SC) members expressed difficulty in keeping track of many emails on a  topic and welcome a better way to do this. Some SC members felt they needed some training on how to use Basecamp. Erlend and Knut will investigate the best way to use Basecamp and show the rest of us.  Members asked if Basecamp be used to communicate between sections or between sections and IFLA?  Can basecamp be used with non-members for special projects?  The group asked for guidelines on how to use Basecamp.

c. Misako reported that LSN has been asked by the Children’s and Young Adult section to co-sponsor a Satellite meeting in Singapore prior to the Kuala Lumpur IFLA WLIC  meeting in 2018.  Discussed on Kuala Lumpur later in the meeting.

6. Reports from officers

a. IFLA asked that Sections put a summary of their annual plan and action plan report on the Section website. Erlend will summarize the annual plan and  Bolt will summarize the action plan for Ra to put on the website.

b. Nancy will prepare a report on our current action plan activities and submit it to IFLA.

7. Tour of Gallaudet University (11:15-12:30)

The group received a very interesting tour of the Gallaudet University library, conducted by Sarah Hamrick.

8. Workshop for the new guidelines for People Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing

a. See Separate Report on workshop from Corrigan and Bolt.  Corrigan and Andissac will report on the workshop itself; Bolt will summarize the discussion following the workshop on an outline for the new/revised Guidelines.

b. Goddard commented that IFLA is updating its Guidelines at the same time that ALA is updating its Guidelines.  Hopefully they can build on each other.

c. Marie-Noelle said that once the outline is approved, she will assign people to writing the chapters.  It was commented that it is important to have people who are deaf as part of the Guidelines process. The draft Guidelines need to be send to consumer groups for review.


FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 2017 Meeting at the Library of Congress

Introduction by Eugene Flanagan head of national programs for the Library of Congress.

LC would like to have a greater impact on national and international projects.  Includes the National Library Service. They are now doing strategic planning for NLS, called NLS2.0.

They are considering proprietary vs commercial equipment and looking at using new technology with Braille. The changes will update NLS and review the current distribution system. They are also looking at a new definition of eligible users that includes people with dyslexia.

9. Ongoing Projects

a. Development of Guidelines for Library Services to People Experiencing Homelessness
LSN members commented that the Guidelines Working Committee had “done an awesome job.”  They felt they were comprehensive and “more research than Guidelines.”  They felt if people didn’t want to read the entire Guidelines, they could read just relevant chapters.

b.Suggested change in the Guidelines

• They suggested that checklist of key actions might be useful, similar to what is in the Guidelines for People with Dyslexia. People who have used those Guidelines have found the checklist to be very helpful.  They suggested that the Checklist go in the beginning of the Guidelines with the summary of all recommendations at the end.

• Anne pointed out that the editors had left out half of her recommendations. After checking, this was determined to be true and they will be added in the final editing.

• On page 9, they suggested that survey questions be put in the annex.

• They felt there was redundancy in the chapter 3 and the introduction.

• They felt that the boxes of similarities and differences between people who are homeless and people who are refugees are contradictory. They suggested this be edited.

• Anne said the quote attributed to her at the beginning of the chapter she wrote  wasn’t really hers and she suggested another quote.

• They also asked if URLs should be in the document because they change.

c. Updates of Accessibility at IFLA Conferences
See attachment

10. Project Proposals for 2017

a. Development of Guidelines for people who are deaf and hard of hearing

• See separate report on the workshop

• LSN received funding from  IFLA for the workshop and for an editor

b. Publication of prison libraries in English

• No funding has been found for this project. LSN will publicize the book if funding is found.  LSN does not have the funding

• Gerhard Peschers suggested that we have an informal meeting in Wroclaw of people interested in prison libraries.  Gerhard will set up the  meeting and Erlend will attend on behalf of LSN.

c. Global Platform Initiative to include people with disabilities in the UN 2030 SDGs

• Nancy reported that she and Dolores Carnugui had attended a meeting sponsored by the United Nations in New York in November, 2016.  Nancy will also attend a meeting in Geneva in May, 2017.   

d. Accessibility at IFLA conferences
Nancy has been in touch with Josche at IFLA about changes they have made to increase accessibility so far. We have suggested that IFLA conduct two surveys:

• A needs assessment

• Adding questions to the post IFLA survey

e. There was a lot of interest in recommending captioning and adding questions to a survey such as

• Other than your own, what language would you like to see captioning in

f. Chris, Marie, and Nancy agreed to work on this.

g. See separate report on accessibility being revised that will be send to IFLA

11. Conference Planning for Wroclaw 

a. Gerhard Perchers has suggested that LSN visit a prison library while IFLA is in Wroclaw

b. Anne will contact and get the following information.

• How many people can the tour accommodate?

• What, if any, information will a prison need to know in advance about visitors (passports? )

• How far away is the prison?’

• How will we get there?

• How long will a visit take from leaving the conference center to returning to the conference center?

• Is there a preferred date? LSN meets at the follow days and times which would not be available for a visit

Saturday, August 19, 10:15 to 12:15
Sunday, August 20, 12:15 – 13:30
Wednesday, August 23, 8:00 – 10:30
Plus other IFLA sessions not specifically for LSN such as opening and closing ceremonies and cultural evening.

c. LSN Session on accessibility at IFLA market place (one hour and 15 mins)

• There will be three speakers for 15 minutes each followed by testimony from attendees about accessibility at IFLA conferences

  1. From ALA:  Chris Corrigan who may ask Mike Marlin to share the podium with him

  2. Heidi will find someone from Sweden

  3. Knut will speak about accessibility at conferences in Norway

  4. Participants will be asked to discuss accessibility at IFLA conferences

• Nancy will contact Josche at IFLA for more information about the market place particularly the following

  1. Where is the market place located?

  2. Are there seats or do people stand?

  3. How is it publicized?

  4. Is it in the regular program?

  5. Is it part of the poster sessions?

  6. Is there a digital projector so speakers can use power points?

• TITLE:  Making your conference accessible for all:  library conference accessibility for people with disabilities.
Using examples from three different countries, we will discuss how library conferences or sessions can be made more accessible for people with disabilities with a focus on IFLA. 

d. Poster Session Preparing IFLA Guidelines according to the IFLA Standards Guidelines.  (Her proposal was accepted.)

12. Conference in Kuala Lumpur (24-30 August 2018)

a. LSN Program

• A proposal was made to do a program in Kuala Lumpur on Universal Design. 

• It was suggested that LPD, Library Buildings and equipment, and Public Libraries sections might be interested in being a partner.

• SC members were able to find links to presentations and speakers in Kuala Lumpur as possible speakers

• Knut, Marti from San Francisco Public Library, and Marie will follow up on contacting possible partners and speakers

• Heidi will look at possible examples from Ted Talks

• A report will be made in Wroclaw.

b. Satellite meeting

• Misako has been in touch with the Children and Young Adults Section and the National Library Board Singapore about a Satellite conference prior to the Kuala Lumpur conference.

• Theme would be Library Services to Children and Young Adults.

• LSN would offer programs on library service to children with special needs

• Misako will fill out the proper form for IFLA

13. Tour of the Library of Congress (during lunch time: 12:00- 13:30 on March 10)

14. Information and publication

a. Report from Information Coordinator

• Facebook
We have 2245 members on Facebook.  Members are increasing but at a slower pace.  All members can post on Facebook.   We have an acceptable number of postings but there could be more.   We need more postings from committee members.

  1. Standing Committee Members have assumed responsibility for posting something on Facebook once a week for a month. The schedule for 2017 until the conference in Wroclaw is:
    March – Paola
    April – Chris
    May – Heidi
    June – Marie Noelle
    July -Nancy
    August – Marie

• Website

  1. Erlend will summarize the annual report for the website.  Nancy will update and then summarize the Action Plan for the website.

  2. Erlend will add a project page for the Guidelines of Library Service to People Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing.   It will include the power points from the workshop.  Presenters at the workshop were asked to send the power points to Chris or Marie-Noelle.

  3. Erlend will work with Knut to make the power point presentations accessible on the web.

  4. We are committed to making the website fully accessible. Erlend will work on this.

• Mailing list

  1. 35 institutions have submitted their contact information.  We can send a message to all members of the section.  Right now it’s only one-way (we send to them.)  If people want to respond, they can use the Facebook page.

  2. The suggestion was to send a message to all members four times a year:

    • After the August conference

    • After the mid-year meeting

    • Summary of action plan

    • Summary of annual report

  3. Updates of LSN Brochure

    • The brochure is being updated and revised based on suggestions from IFLA and some Standing Committee members

    • Marie will update and send it to the SC for comments

    • Then it will be sent to IFLA. 

    • Misako will see if IFLA will publish the new brochure.

    • Different SC members will translate the brochure once it is approved

    • Erlend will put it on the website once it is approved

    • We would like to have ready for IFLA in Wroclaw

    • Marie, Marie-Noelle, and Heidi are on the brochure committee

15. Translation Grids

a. Easy to Read Materials has been translated into Turkish

b. Swedish librarians are using the checklist in the Guidelines for Library Services to People with Dyslexia

c. The Guidelines for Library Services to People with Dyslexia checklist have been translated into French

d. The Japanese translation of the Guidelines for Library Services to People with Dyslexia is almost completed.

e. The Croatian translation of the Guidelines for Library Services to People with Dyslexia is almost completed.

16. LSN Membership Matters

a. There are four new members on the LSN Standing Committee

• Dolores Carungui, Philippines

• Ingrid Kallstrom, Sweden

• Maela Uvodic, Croatia

• Man Yi Helen Chan, Hong Kong

b. Corresponding Members

• Helle Arendrup and Ray Schwartz are leaving as corresponding members

• Marie-Noelle will be added as a corresponding member after August 2017.

• There is one more position open

c. Officers for 2017-2019

• Misako Nomura indicated she was interested in running again for Chair

• Erlend Ras indicated he was interested in running again for Information Officer

• Nancy Bolt indicated she would not be running again for Secretary

• Chris Corrigan indicated an interest in running for Secretary

17. Other business

a. IFLA is holding a Visioning Meeting in Athens Greece in March/April 2017. Misako and Nancy are both attending and have agreed to implement for LSN whatever is decided in the meeting

b. Oslo was proposed as the venue for the Mid-year meeting in 2018

c. Marie suggested the possibility of combining the checklists for many of the LSN Guidelines. Nancy and Marie will work on this idea and report in August.

d. A new Action Plan will be prepared for August. Nancy and Misako will work on it.