Access Through Technology

Access and diversity. Librarians continually talk about the importance of ensuring that all users have access to any of the materials in our collections. We are dedicated to serving diverse populations and strive to build collections that represent a full spectrum of racial, ethnic, and cultural values.

We fight to make sure that every item in our collections is on open shelves and that unfiltered Internet access is available to at least our adult users. Our next challenge: broaden our definitions of access and diversity to include the interests and needs of people with disabilities.

Census 2000 figures indicate that more than 19 percent of the U.S. population aged five and older are people with disabilities. The estimated 50 million individuals who comprise this group especially need access to computers in libraries. Citing data from the 1999 Survey on Income and Program Participation, a report published by the U.S. Department of Commerce states, "People who have a disability were only half as likely to live in homes with Internet access than those without any disability. And while just under 25 percent of people without a disability have never used a personal computer, the situation is quite different for those who have a disability. Close to 60 percent of people who have at least one type of disability have never used a computer."

Computers in libraries are essential tools. Assistive technology is the key to using them for people with disabilities.

As the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 came into effect, libraries scrambled to build ramps, widen doorways and aisles, and make restrooms wheelchair accessible. Increasing numbers of people with disabilities come to libraries with expectations beyond being able to walk or roll through our doors. Just like other users, they also want to be able to read, research, make notes, send email, participate in programs, and watch videos. To independently pursue their interests, some library users with disabilities need access to assistive or adaptive technology.

Assistive or adaptive technology (AT) involves a device or a computer-based accommodation that helps an individual with special needs work around or compensate for a disability by supporting individual strengths.

In a library, AT may be as simple as a magnifying glass used by an older adult to read the newspaper. But it can also be as sophisticated as a computer workstation with software that makes it possible for a student with learning disabilities to scan a book and hear it read aloud while following highlighted text on a monitor screen. AT may even be a piece of furniture, such as an adjustable-height table that can be used by people in all sizes of wheelchairs. The ADA requires every library to provide a variety of accommodations that make it possible for those with various disabilities to use all of its materials and services. AT can help meet that standard.

Ideally, a library's ADA coordinator or a staff member whose duties include accessibility services will work with a team of community members with special needs to develop an effective AT program (see "Create Your AT Program," p. 4). Working with users and potential users helps ensure that appropriate solutions are installed, that people will actually use them, and that they will spread the word about the library's efforts. In the beginning, adding AT to a library's array of services can be as simple as teaching staff to show users how to turn on selected Microsoft Accessibility tools that provide minimal accommodations for users with low vision, hearing loss, and mild motor disabilities.

Simple hardware solutions add flexibility to a public workstation. Place a workstation on a push-button adjustable-height table with an adjustable keyboard tray. Designate it for priority use by people with disabilities. Adapt it with a large flat-screen monitor mounted on an adjustable monitor arm, add a keyboard that has large type black on white keys, and connect two pointing devices such as a conventional mouse and a trackball through a Y-mouse adapter that automatically switches to the device manipulated by the user. With these changes, your workstation will meet the needs of wheelchair users, some people with low vision, and people who have computer-related repetitive strain injuries or carpal tunnel syndrome as well as some other dexterity disabilities.

Add screen enlargement software with voice output, attach headphones, and people with more severe vision impairments as well as those with reading disabilities can also use the workstation. Make it possible to swap out alternate keyboards as requested by users and even more people with different kinds of motor and dexterity disabilities can use the machine.

Depending upon local needs, a library may add workstations that are configured for specific user groups. Where there is high demand for hands-free computer use, consider a workstation with speech-recognition software that allows users to control the computer or enter text via their voices. The addition of a touch screen monitor and an electronic tracking device would make the workstation accessible for others who are unable to use standard keyboards.

A community with lots of blind people who read Braille may add a computer with Braille translation software, a refreshable Braille display, and a Braille embosser. Users who have reading and writing disabilities benefit from access to a workstation that includes a scanner and voice output, word prediction software, and a thought organization program.

Because computer-based AT is designed primarily to be installed on a PC configured for a single user in an office or at home, AT poses some unique challenges to both users and staff in a library's multiple-user environment.

For example, conventional library network security often limits the ability of users to change settings for display and sound. IT staff can design solutions that make it possible for people with disabilities to make changes they need without compromising security. They just need to choose software that limits access only to essential control panels and resets the machine to its original settings each time a user logs off.

Noise and distraction provide additional challenges. Braille embossers are noisy, so they need to be installed where other readers will not be disturbed. Computers with voice output can be used in any location if headphones are provided. However, a workstation that is intended for users with learning disabilities should be installed in a quiet location with a minimum of visual and auditory distractions.

Computers that include speech-recognition programs also should be installed in quiet places where the user's voice will be easily recognized without ambient noise that affects the computer's ability to understand it.

Voice-recognition software brings another challenge: it requires each user to build a voice file that enables the computer to recognize his or her voice. If a number of voice files are saved in a hard drive, users may inadvertently corrupt one another's files. A possible solution: install a zip drive and require each user to save his or her voice file on a zip disk.

Not all AT works with a personal computer. Simpler standalone solutions provide user-friendly alternatives for some tasks. Librarians often report that CCTVs (closed-circuit televisions) are heavily used by both readers with low vision and those with reading disabilities to deal with print materials more comfortably and effectively. Simple reading machines that allow readers to scan print and listen to it read aloud, as well as talking dictionaries, are useful for the same populations of users.

Standalone solutions also enable some people to use library services more independently or participate in public programs. Examples of these solutions include Talking Signs®, which orient library users with vision impairments to basic service points, and text telephones (TTYs), which enable callers with hearing or speech disabilities to talk directly with reference staff over the phone. People who are deaf or hard of hearing also may benefit by having available assistive listening devices or real-time captioning services that help them participate in public programs.

Accessible web sites and online resources that can be used effectively by people with disabilities further enable access for a diverse community of users. In fact, universal design principles that make it possible for people with disabilities to use electronic resources easily make those resources more accessible to a wide variety of devices, such as handhelds.

Universal design principles and guidelines are defined by the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium). For information on how chat reference services are being employed by students who are deaf or hard of hearing, see "Chatting at Gallaudet," p. 3.

Participants in the Stanford–California State Library Institute on 21st Century Librarianship saw the future of AT when they were introduced to the Archimedes Project in the summer of 2000. Based in the Center for the Study of Language and Information at Stanford University, the Archimedes Project is an independent research organization made up of "a group of individuals from multiple disciplines and broad world experience who are committed to making information technology universally available to all people, regardless of their abilities, needs, preferences, and culture."

Project director Neil Scott ignited imaginations with the vision of a Total Access System (TAS). While the computer-based assistive technologies described earlier require that libraries adapt their computers, under the TAS model, each individual with a disability would have a personal accessor to use on any electronic device, whether a computer in his or her library or an ATM.

Speakers in a session at the 2004 Public Library Association conference in Seattle called "Untangled, Unwired, Unbound: Going Wireless in the Public Library" touched upon the ways universal design lets an increasing number of users bring their own devices and simply tap into wireless library networks. Knowing that libraries as well as database producers are using universal design precepts to develop their web sites and e-products gives hope that the Archimedes Project vision can become reality.