Washington DC--The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has published Services for Users with Disabilities , SPEC Kit 321, which explores what services are being provided and how users are made aware of them; what assistive technologies are being offered today and who maintains them; which library staff have responsibility for providing services and how are they trained; and what service policies and procedures are in place for users with disabilities.

The survey results indicate that all staff who work on a public services desk are responsible for assisting users with disabilities, or at least making a proper referral. Services range from retrieving library materials from the stacks, to assistance searching online resources, to assistance with adaptive technology. Workstations with adaptive technology are common, either in public spaces or special rooms. The most commonly available special software is for text magnification. Scanners are the most commonly available hardware.

This SPEC Kit includes documentation from respondents that describe the services offered, the assistive technology that is available, service policies, user needs assessment, staff training materials, and job requirements for service coordinators.

The table of contents and executive summary from this SPEC Kit are available online at http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/spec-321-web.pdf .

ORDERING INFORMATION


SPEC Kit 321, Services for Users with Disabilities
M. Suzanne Brown and LeiLani Freund • December 2010 • ISBN 1-59407-855-6 • 196 pp. • $45 ($35 ARL members)

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SPEC KITS EXCHANGE INFORMATION


Designed to examine current research library practices and policies and serve as resource guides for libraries as they face ever-changing management problems, each SPEC Kit contains a summary analysis, survey questions with tallies, pertinent documentation from participating libraries, and a reading list and Web site references for further information on the topic.

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2010 SPEC Kit subscription (ISSN 0160-3582): $225 ARL member/$295 nonmember, six issues per year, shipping included (additional postage may apply outside North America).

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit organization of 126 research libraries in North America. Its mission is to influence the changing environment of scholarly communication and the public policies that affect research libraries and the diverse communities they serve. ARL pursues this mission by advancing the goals of its member research libraries, providing leadership in public and information policy to the scholarly and higher education communities, fostering the exchange of ideas and expertise, facilitating the emergence of new roles for research libraries, and shaping a future environment that leverages its interests with those of allied organizations. ARL is on the Web at http://www.arl.org/ .

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