The Filipino Librarian shared this post with me: Blind Librarian Leads the Way. He links to an article in the Philippines Enquirer on Filipina Librarian:
“Maria Lea Vilvar’s journey from being a sighted girl afraid of the dark to a blind librarian who inspires others like her to go beyond their physical impairments.”
Here’s this week’s summary from the sgLEAD discussion postings:
1) Accessibility: The Current Situation and New Directions (July 2005)
Re-discovered this article that a colleague sent to me (Jul 2005):
“Kevin Carey describes accessibility by disabled people to digital information systems across broadcasting, telecommunications and the Internet, looks into the future and makes recommendations.” … [Read More]
>>
2) Project Gutenberg’s Distributed Proofreaders (PGDP)
Shared by Yi Lin: “PGDP is a support site for people to volunteer, taking part in the process of making an e-book as proofreaders for the OCR scans from the books. Own time own target. Very interesting way of volunteering at the comfort of own home. “Preserving history, one page at a time.” [Read More]
Someone asked me, “What sparked your interest in library services for the disabled? You have written your dissertation and published a paper on this subject before. Also, have you or are you currently volunteering your services (not necessarily as librarian) to any organizations helping
the disabled?“
My reply:
I guess it’s an area that tends to be neglected and it’s an opportunity for librarians to do something. Since we know each other fairly well, I’ll just tell you this — trying to do something for the disabled is my way of practicing altrusim. And it’s gives me some personal direction wrt my profession. I see librarians being in a position to do good, just that someone has to start the ball rolling. I hope people join, esp. librarians in singapore, but even if nothing happens, at least I’ve tried. It’s like if someone stumbles to the group and seeks help, then the group (or worse case, myself) can help or direct them to someone.
It’s like the NVPC advert — where you can help in way you are specialising at, like cutting hair. Me? I’m a librarian.
I’m not directly helping out with any specific organisations serving the disabled at the moment. I want to help as a librarian. This is my way of volunteering I guess.”
So, do you volunteer as well? What sparked off your interest?
Tag: volunteerism
Taking into consideration the comments at my ramblinglibrarian post, I’ve drafted the group description, objectives etc.:
Group Description
A librarian-volunteer network for individuals and organisations interested in providing reading, learning and library services to people with disabilities.It is a:
- Discussion group led & faciliated by librarians;
- Open to those in the library and information profession, as well any individual;
- Who share an interest;
- In the provision of library/ information services;
- To people with disabilities
Who can join?
Membership is open to individuals who have an interest in the area of library and information services to people with disabilities. This includes librarians, educators, therapists, caregivers, individuals with disabilities etc.Objectives of the group
- To be a platform for individuals to share their experiences w.r.t. library services to the disabled
- To allow individuals with shared interest to network
- To increase awareness and understanding of the information & service needs of people with disabilities
- To lead to some concrete actions that enables the disabled to be independent users of library and information services in Singapore
The above was as of 1 May 2006. If there are any refinements (which there would be from time to time, but not too drastically), they would be updated directly at the About and/ or Discussion Group pages.
To address some specific comments:
Q: Is this a list that informs receipients about upcoming services, or is this an initiative to raise awareness and invite contributions and volunteers? Or, is it to publicize that this group you intend to start is capable of providing physical and resource support?
A: Yes to the first and second part. No to the third.
In my mind, the primary objective is to raise awareness amongst librarians in Singapore. I believe many of them are interested in helping the disabled but there isn’t any platform to discuss or network at present.
Second, I know of some librarians who have valuable insights from working with the disabled (directly or via an organisation) but currently their knowledge is all bottled-up. Usually I discover their interest or insights when I ask them by chance. Hence, setting up the group is to enable such tacit knowledge (from librarians or anyone) to be documented and shared.
Third, the provision of library disability services doesn’t happen in isolation. There must be involvement by other partners, like the organisations serving people with disabilities and also the individuals themselves. So the discussion group is to hopefuly bring these interested parties together to network.
For a start, I don’t want to promise if this group will have capabilities to provide physical and resource support. Participation in the group is voluntary and in our personal capacities. If any individual can bring some of their organisation’s resources to help, that’ll be ideal but not the primary intent.
I’m certainly mindful not to make this group be “all talk and no action” but first we take baby-steps. There must be dialogue and sharing first. Then we see what action we can take.
Q: Good idea, but I’m not clear on what you are looking for. Does this involve interior library design (architecture) for accessibility, or a collection of resources useful for the disabled?
A: The scope of the group discussion would be anything related to library/ information services. This itself is already quite broad and can include physical access (i.e. architecture), collection, publicity, education, assistive devices, and so on.
If you’re interested in how the name sgLEAD came to be, read this post.
