Is my school library accessible to all students?

This week, I was thinking about how my school library works for students with accessibility challenges.

(Becky Sniffen + Bing AI generator)

I took Janet Hopkins’ 10 ideas for addressing accessibility in a school library (Hopkins, 2004) and measured them against the physical space, the programs, and the supports we have in place. Here’s what I found.

1. Consult with special educators at your school to learn about your students with disabilities and their challenges. All students at the school have access to the library. Some of our most impacted students need 1:1 support in order to be successful during whole-class library visits. For example, our severely autistic student needs an aide to assist him with transitions, behaviors, and whole-group safety. Other students require specialized seating in order to be able to access lessons and/or use hearing aids with microphone transmitters. Our wheelchair bound student is successful with occasional help from fellow students or adults to reach high shelves. Students with ADHD are helped by using fidgets and wiggle seats, and sometimes take 2- to 3- minute breaks at the peace table, where they can color or put their head down for a short refocusing break.


2. Find out which resources and services already exist in your school or district. Here is a list of the adaptive and assistive technologies currently in use at our school:

Low tech

- noise canceling headphones (sensory / autism)
- peace corners (take a break / anxiety / autism)
- fidgets, including gum (ADHD / anxiety)
- tactile seat cushions (ADHD / sensory)
- flexible/preferential seating (vision / ADHD / anxiety)
- graphic organizers (executive functioning)
- visual timers (anxiety / executive functioning)
- guided reading strips (dyslexia)
- posted schedule (autism / anxiety / hearing)
- posted visual/picture schedule (autism / emerging readers / anxiety)
- emotions communication boards (autism / learning disability)
- posted letter and number charts (dyslexia / dysgraphia)


High tech

- Chromebooks for students with built in text readers, dyslexic fonts, high contrast screen options, enlarged cursor, magnifying capability, and speech-to-text tools (ELL / dyslexia / emerging readers / vision)
- iPads with touch screens (emerging readers / dyslexia / mobility)
- closed captioning for video playback (ELL / hearing)
- microphone-to-hearing aid wireless voice amplifiers (hearing)
- audio / ebook options (ELL / dyslexia / emerging readers)
- smart pen text reader (ELL / dyslexia / emerging readers)
- elevators (mobility / injury / asthma)

(Becky Sniffen + Bing Image Creator)

3. Tour your own library to identify barriers to learning and assess the variety of technology and resource formats available for students with diverse needs. I have much still to do to boost accessibility in the library, including more visual signage, labeled browsing bins, and non-fiction restructuring. I have implemented several supports in the library, including adding visual signage for genre categories and nonfiction sections, establishing a peace corner with breathing/calming exercises, acquiring wiggle seats and fidgets, using large visual timers, providing schedules to anticipate transitions, hanging posters with point-to-your-emotion graphics for students struggling to communicate their feelings, and signage in our two primary languages: English and Chinese. We do not have any resources at all for those who are seriously sight impaired, but we also don't have students that fall into that category. All bookcases and tables are on wheels, and the tables are height adjustable. We have standard Virco chairs in two sizes and additional soft seating.


4. Allocate professional development time for learning about library accessibility and assistive technology. I have engaged in some PD on creating an inclusive, accessible library including sessions at the MSLA conference (specifically: using translation extensions with Sora for ELL students). PLCs, field observations, and public library tours have also been helpful for learning about new tools and strategies. I would like to engage in more PD focused on supporting students with dyslexia, learning disabilities, ADHD and hearing issues.

(Becky Sniffen + Bing Image Creator)

5. Consider forming a focus group including colleagues who share an interest in library accessibility issues. A focus group or PLC dedicated to accessibility is a great idea! I think a student focus group made up of members in selected populations candidly discussing any struggles they have engaging with the library would be invaluable. In addition to students, I would like to do this in a group that includes SPED, OT and 1:1 paraprofessional input.


6. Become familiar with built-in accessibility features already available on your computer operating systems. As is often the case, I’ve learned a lot from the students on the built-in accessibility features on Chromebooks, including magnification, screen readers, text-to-speech, enlarged cursor, high-contrast view, and enlarged on-screen keyboards. In lessons introducing students to Sora and our databases, I make sure to point out the screen-reading and magnification features. After a student requesting it last year, I now know to turn on the closed captioning when showing videos in class.


7. Assess your need for funding and identify budget and grant options. In observations and library tours, I’ve been really impressed with the use of iPads in libraries, both as classroom tools for research and collaboration and catalog searching tools. I would like to have library iPads dedicated to catalog search and databases. My first order of business here is to find out if our tech team would support iPad acquisition. Ours is a Dell Chromebook school deeply committed to the Google suite of word processing tools. Grant opportunities include Apple ConnectED, DonorsChoose, Dollar General Youth Literacy, Greenfield Savings Bank, and even our very own school PTA.

(Becky Sniffen + Bing Image Creator)

8. Talk to administrators about the library accessibility issues that you consider more urgent. Touch screens, such as the iPads mentioned in #7, would go a long way to making our catalog more accessible for all students. At this time, we have one public desktop dedicated to Destiny Discover. Often, there is a crowd of students standing around it waiting their turn. As younger students are slow typers with faulty spelling, it is not uncommon for only one or two students to be able to conduct a search of our catalog during a library check out period. Additionally, the user friendliness of a touch screen with pictorial prompts will allow even our youngest students to be successful searching for books they might enjoy.

9. Ask vendors to provide trial products before purchasing products. I did not realize that it is possible to conduct trials with adaptive/assistive tech hardware. I have used free trials for a number of different software programs such as NoRedInk and Book Creator. It’s nice to be able to “kick the tires” before committing to anything.


10. Publicize your accessibility initiatives and new technology acquisitions. Promoting the tools we use in the library to ensure it is safe, accessible and inclusive is yet another reason to maintain an Instagram account! I can also use the school library website page, the principal’s newsletters, and, when appropriate, each individual’s class newsletter.


I learned a lot this week as I thought about my space and practice with a critical eye. Mostly, I realized how little I have to support students with ADHD - by far the largest category in our select populations column. I often have music playing in the library, and it wasn't until my readings this week that I realized how white noise can be helpful for ADHD students as a means to focus. I'll be more intentional in my music selections going forward and am eager to test out the results.

(Becky Sniffen + Bing Image Creator)

Work cited:

Hopkins, Janet. School Library Accessibility: the Role of Assistive Technology. Teacher Librarian, Vol. 33 Issue 3, Feb. 2004

The Making of a Wanna-be Viral Video

Like most librarians, I enjoy seeing people sharing their love for books on social media. On Instagram, I follow:

• the Tutu Teacher, Vera Ahhiya @thetututeacher
• my friend Julie  @walker_library_ashland
• the MSLA
  
• Happy Hollow school library at @hh.library
• Mychal Threets @mychal3ts
• Maya Lê @maistorybooklibrary

I get great ideas for creating displays, learn about wonderful books on a variety of topics, and connect with the common struggles and rewards for the work we do.

This week, I decided to create a "magic" video. They're everywhere online and look like a lot of fun to make. They are certainly fun to watch! I enlisted my 16 year old son to take the videos and - for a first effort - it's resoundingly adequate.

I can see why people invest in tripods and ring lights, and why most people who make these types of videos keep a super neutral expression on their faces. Still, it *was* fun to cut and splice and add transitions and create a video introduction to the 16 MCBA books I'm using in my Battle of the Books trivia tournament this year.

Because I love Canva with all my heart, I used it to make this video. I also attempted a slow-motion book fall video but each clip was too short to really string out all together.

I learned a lot and feel confident that my next attempt will be much smoother!

 I had a lot of fun this week looking at tech tools for the library or for use in the school! Here are the highlights: 

IMAGES

1. BigHugeLabs http://bighugelabs.com/-

Use: Library unit creating magazine cover-style book reviews.

Analysis: Might be best for older students - there are lots of ads with confusing “click here” buttons scattered over the pages. While free, easy to use and the results are great, younger students would have a hard time understanding the flow and would inevitably click on ads. Overall, this is not super sophisticated, but it is fun.

2. Flickr http://flickr.com/

Use: Historical photos to accompany research in a number of different disciplines.

Analysis: I am always looking for image sources that include title, date, artist information to use when facilitating citation practice. Flickr has a lot of great historical photos (I got lost in the NASA Challenger collection) with decent metadata. Our school’s firewall blocks nearly all photo and image options due to nudity and/or violence. It didn’t take long for me to see that some of Flickr’s collections - like the Library of Congress’ - contain nudes.  I would recommend this site to high school photographers as a way to curate, share and store their pictures. Students and teachers of history would be able to use many of the photos to accompany research. I can also imagine our art teacher using Flickr to inspire students when teaching about perspectives, textures, and composition. 

3. Public Domain Image Archive  https://pdimagearchive.org/

Use: Resource for copyright free history or biology class illustrations.

Analysis: There is a lot of great material here, all outside of copyright dates. Some of the listings have sparse information for citation purposes, but that is always going to be true for really old book illustrations, paintings, etc. Some of the tags (“eroticism”, “sex”) would be irresistible to students and would not pass our firewall filters. I particularly liked imagining a high school biology class using some of the anatomy images (so many turtles!) to practice identifying and labeling bones, muscles, nerves, etc.

TROUBLESHOOTING & BRAINSTORMING

4. BubblUs http://www.bubbl.us/

Use: Mind-mapping app for 8th-12th grade complex essays.

Analysis: Another mind-mapping app. This one has intuitive adding/deleting/organizing buttons so that kids can begin using it with very little teacher guidance. I can see this being helpful in the 11-12 grade IB extended essay, as that is the longest and most involved writing piece that our high schoolers undertake and having an organizational flow for it will help kids tackle it step by step. It could help minimize anxiety around what can feel like an overwhelming project.

5. SurveyMonkey http://www.surveymonkey.com/

Use: Instant feedback for voting, assessing understanding, quizzes, polls, etc.

Analysis: I’ve taken tons of SurveyMonkey polls in my life, but - until now - hadn’t really considered it for classroom use. I put it to work right away, surveying kids to vote on books to get rid of. With students’ help, I’m weeding titles from our collection by genre in order to make room for new books. I’ve been doing this with a paper tallying system and am eager to compare the digital results.

6. Doodle https://doodle.com/

Use: Scheduling app useful for planning meetings.

Analysis: Doodle is another tool that I’ve used before, though always as a responder rather than a creator. I can see that this would be super useful in my role as the school’s Sunshine Committee event planner to propose possible dates for social events. Surveying kids during a unit would also allow me to assess students for understanding. I like the look of some of the premium offerings; for example, the ability to rank/prioritize answers would allow for more nuance than simple multiple choice options. I can also see using this to organize library volunteer trainings.

 

PRESENTATION

7. Bitmoji - https://www.bitmoji.com/

Use: Cute digital avatars for presentations.

Analysis: I love using my Bitmoji Becky for presentations and posters! They are whimsical and innocent and very appealing. I can easily see kids using these in videos and comic book creations as a means of communicating information.

8. Explain Everything - https://explaineverything.com/education/

Use: Sophisticated, easy-to-use whiteboarding app for collaboration in any discipline.

Analysis: I was 100% on board with this shared/collaborative whiteboarding app UNTIL I discovered that students can sign into it anonymously, erase others contributions, and could write hurtful/offensive comments that would be viewable to everyone on the platform. It reminded me of a painful incident at my child’s high school during distance learning when a student drew a swastika on a collaborative platform that shut the class down and necessitated a major rethinking of how to manage discourse and create communities of respect.

9. Timeline  - https://venngage.com/features/timeline-infographics

Use: Infographic (and other) template graphic design tool useful for summarizing research findings.

Analysis: I could swap out Venngage for Canva - particularly in my infographics creation unit. Venngage has concentrated on business products (charts, forms, presentations, infographics) whereas Canva has focused more on social media visuals and educational tools (IG stories, graphic organizers, video presentations). Venngage’s AI generator for business tools is more powerful than Canva’s. Here is Canva’s (problematic) AI-generated infographic on media literacy: 

In comparison, Venngage’s was mostly hallucination-free (until the very bottom): 

Unfortunately, Venngage isn’t free for teachers and only offers 5 free designs in their trial. I am spoiled by Canva. And, actually, I like that kids have to manually build their own designs in Canva or choose the best template to customize. There is so much more intention required.

10. Voki http://www.voki.com/

Use: Engaging "talking" avatars for video presentations.

Analysis: Voki is so cool! I have often wondered where educators get the “talking” avatars that they use in videos and now I know. I could see my students really enjoying using Voki to make book talk videos, relay personal interests, and present research on all topics. I like that this was created as a K-12 educational tool.