UA Awarded Grant to Help Make ‘Accessible Libraries for All’

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The Institute of Museum and Library Services awarded Dr. Laurie Bonnici, an assistant professor in The University of Alabama School of Library and Information Studies, a three-year, $882,416 federal grant to educate and train students to evaluate resources and information technologies for users who have physical impairments but do not meet the legal definition of disabled, a population referred to as extra-legally ably challenged, or ELAC.  

The grant will fund a project, titled Accessible Libraries for All, or ALFA, that will educate and train 30 library and information studies students, who will be named ALFA Fellows, to evaluate resources and information technologies for use by people with physical challenges falling outside Americans with Disabilities Act protection.  

This approach allows for a shift from a special access approach to a universal access philosophy.  

The Institute of Museum and Library Services has reported that nearly two-thirds of the nation’s librarians will retire by 2019, including librarians who serve National Library Services for the Blind and Physically Handicapped regional facilities.  

Project ALFA is designed to develop a new generation of highly skilled information professionals to work with clientele of diverse backgrounds, abilities and age.  

Internships, fieldwork and service-learning projects allow ALFA Fellows to make a transition from classroom knowledge to applied experience -putting learning into action.  

An emphasis on technologies for information access, including hardware, software and Web 2.0 tools will be an integral part of the ALFA experience.  

Bonnici and colleague Dr. Stephanie Maatta, assistant professor at the University of South Florida School of Information, will collaborate on course development for the Project ALFA curriculum.  

Two special courses will augment the existing master’s in library and information studies curriculum and will be structured around information access principles and information technology use designed for universal access.  

Bonnici will design and develop a portable learning laboratory that will be housed on individual student and faculty laptop computers to promote formal learning activities related to the two course offerings.  

Maatta will coordinate activities at USF, where 15 of the ALFA Fellows will pursue their graduate studies couched in universal access philosophy.  

Project ALFA will collaborate with two partner state agencies, the Alabama Public Library Service and the Florida Department of Education Division of Blind Services, to incorporate a service-learning model into the program.  

These four partners will host regularly scheduled mini-conference sessions that will bring the ALFA fellows, Bonnici, Maatta and partner coordinators from the state agencies together to extend project learning and initiatives throughout the funding period.  

Outcomes of the project, which include the two exemplary courses, the experiential sensory learning lab and the service-learning model, will be made available through the project website at http://projectalfa.slis.ua.edu.  

These and other project-related resources and information will be posted to the website as they are developed over the course of the three-year funded project.