Welcome to Libraries for All!
Libraries for all started as the result of a collaborative effort, and I hope it will remain a place for my colleagues to share their ideas and experiences. It all began with a posting on PUBYAC (which is a terrific resource for youth services librarians). My response to the post flowed out of my experiences as a librarian with disabilities. I was surprised, delighted, and touched by the emails I received from colleagues as a result of my post. Many responders were interested in further exploring topics related to disabilities and libraries. Some, like myself, are librarians\library staff with disabilities, others are librarians\library staff who have close family members with disabilities, and others simply want to learn how to better serve customers with disabilities. I love responses to my blog, of course, but I also welcome emails from colleagues who have written articles they would like to see published on this site, have suggestions to add to the book lists, or simply have a question they would like addressed. Please send me only works which you, yourself, have written. I cannot offer payment for any work submitted, but all authors will receive full credit and retain all rights to their work. If you would like something posted anonymously, please let me know in your email. My email is librarianjennifer@gmail.com
The website has expanded to include related topics important to me. One is the importance of equal access to technology and the world wide web, a topic libraries must address in order to truly be "libraries for all." This includes providing customers with the means of creating their own content and finding a platform for their own voice as the digital age has made the "average" person a producer, as well as a consumer, of both art and information. Early childhood education has also come to have a place on this website--some of my own disabilities have made me intensely interested in how children learn--which has led to exploring ways of incorporating early childhood research into library practice.
The website has expanded to include related topics important to me. One is the importance of equal access to technology and the world wide web, a topic libraries must address in order to truly be "libraries for all." This includes providing customers with the means of creating their own content and finding a platform for their own voice as the digital age has made the "average" person a producer, as well as a consumer, of both art and information. Early childhood education has also come to have a place on this website--some of my own disabilities have made me intensely interested in how children learn--which has led to exploring ways of incorporating early childhood research into library practice.
