WLA Accessibility in Libraries Summit

Friday, October 21, 2022
Online

The 2022 WLA Accessibility in Libraries Summit was held on Friday, October 21, 2022. If you missed the live sessions, you can still register to get access to session recordings, transcripts, chat logs, and presentation materials. Registrants will have access to recordings and materials until October 21, 2023.

Individual registration costs are $20 WLA Students; $35 WLA Members; and $55 Non-Members.

Organizational Rate

Due to popular demand, WLA is now offering rates based on the number of employees in your organization!

For this virtual event, WLA is excited to allow organizations to purchase a pass to grant all staff online access to the Summit! An all-access pass will allow staff from all levels, roles, and career stages to attend for a flat fee.

Your employees can pop in and out of live sessions as their schedules allow, and they will have access to all session recordings afterward. The cost is less than the regular member rate, and your staff at all levels can each have access to the full day's schedule of quality professional development. Find your organization's rate in the table, below!

Programs

The Summit will have a single interdisciplinary track on topics related to accessibility. Find the official schedule and full program descriptions linked below. 

• Keynote: Library Accessibility: What I Didn't Learn in Library School (Renee Grassi, Dakota County Library)

• Keeping Board Game Collections and Events Inclusive (John Pappas, Lower Merion Library System)

• Accessible E-Resources (Ray Zill, Evergreen State College)

• Accessibility Courses & Accessibility Applied at CWU (Dr. Naomi Jeffery Petersen & Elizabeth Brown, Central Washington University)

• See, Feel, Hear: Multisensory Youth Programming (Erin Groth, Washington Talking Book & Braille Library)

• Divisional Roundtables (More information coming soon!)

View Program Descriptions

If you have any questions, contact the WLA Office at [email protected] or (206) 823-1138!

Accessibility Grants from Libraries Transforming Communities

Do you want to improve accessibility at your library?

Libraries Transforming Communities: Accessible Small and Rural Communities will offer more than $7 million in grants to small and rural libraries to increase the accessibility of facilities, services, and programs to better serve people with disabilities.

Beginning in late 2022, ALA will accept applications for grants to be distributed over the next three years ranging from $10,000 to $20,000. To be alerted about the application opening date, sign up to receive ALA's Programming Librarian e-newsletter.

Participating libraries will first conduct community input-gathering sessions to assure that their work aligns with local needs. Libraries will be required to identify the primary audience they are hoping to reach (e.g., homebound seniors, children with autism, Deaf community members) and facilitate a community conversation with the impacted populations in order to guide improvement of the library’s services. Grantees would then use the funds to create services or improve their facilities based on the needs identified by their audience.