The Good, The Bad, and The Ethical

“Establishing a Positive Staff Culture Around Mental Health”. Youtube, uploaded by California Library Services, 27 September 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jpkh41BL0oY The video I chose is about how to create a positive environment for patrons with mental illness. It is an instructional video for prospective public library employees to better understand how to serve these patrons. It gives good advice on how the library maintains positive relationships with patrons with mental illnesses and to let these patrons start fresh every day. It gives a good scenario about how it can be easy to find these patrons frustrating and hard to deal with. However, it shows the importance of treating them with respect and seeing them as humans rather than as their disease.  I think this video was very educational on how to create a healthy relationship with patrons with mental illnesses especially since there will be a time when it is encountered. This video demonstrates that th...

 Listed below are three grant opportunities public libraries can apply for to help create a library that is accessible to all patrons with all types of abilities. These grants can help with programs, technology, services, etc. that can help patrons that are disadvantaged or unable to access information as easily as others. 1. Special Projects funding through Texas State Library and Archives Commission This grant will be a good opportunity to help with creating services, redesigning the library building, etc. to better serve patrons with disabilities. The link below gives more details and guidelines for this grant. Application must be submitted by March 8, 2018. “Goals and Purposes- 13 Texas Administrative Code (TAC) §2.41: This grant program provides funds for programs that expand library services to all members of the library’s community. It enables libraries to develop programs for populations with special needs.” (pg. 3). This is directly from the grant guidelines pag...

There are approximately 36 million people in the US with a disability. A lot of them are less likely to find employment than able bodied people. The library offers the ability to level out the playing field by providing resources they may not find anywhere else. Libraries all around the world have, for decades now, made the accessibility of the library and resources a reality for people with disabilities. However, the question being studied is “how is library and information science (LIS), as a discipline, conceptualizing disability and accessibility” (Hill, 137).  There are programs and resources available to disabled people “but an understanding of the discipline focus beyond these programs is largely absent” (Hill, 138). There is not much research available out there to gain a good grasp on disabilities and how they affect people. If we are to better serve these folks, we have to have a good idea of what their daily struggle is. We have to understand the problem, if we are ...