Overview

Programming staff, library administrators, and LIS instructors will find this an easy-to-read handbook for understanding the needs of adults with developmental disabilities and the principles that undergird the best practices the authors describe. Public libraries everywhere have embraced inclusion and expanded their programming for youth with disabilities, especially autism. It's imperative that libraries also offer rich and age-appropriate initiatives for adults with developmental disabilities; after all, as youth now served by their libraries grow up and reach adulthood, they will continue to want and expect libraries to be responsive to their needs. Klipper and Banks, two librarians with a long-standing focus on inclusivity, combine research-based theory and an introduction to best practices with details on how to replicate field-tested programs for adults with developmental disabilities (DD). Readers will learn key ideas about DD, such as an examination and debunking of commonly held stereotypes and misconceptions about people with DD and the role ableism plays in perpetuating them; be introduced to self-advocates and their ways of viewing DD, including terminology and the Neurodiversity movement; get pointers on how to create a culture of inclusion at the library, with discussions of Universal Design and UDL, staff training, and anticipating the unexpected; explore the needs of adults with DD who are also LGBTQA , people of color, immigrants and English language learners, seniors, those with dual diagnoses, and other aspects of intersectionality in library programming; understand how to build on and modify existing children's and YA practice to ensure that library users with DD receive age-appropriate and respectful library service; learn how to make virtual programming accessible and which programs can be successfully brought online; discover a myriad of programs ready to adapt for their own libraries, such as Sensory Storytime for adults, book clubs, arts and crafts programs, adaptive gaming, job skills workshops, cooking programs, and many more; see how programming for adults with DD works in academic libraries; and gain skills for outreach and keeping current, with guidance on forming and strengthening partnerships, advocacy, fundraising, marketing, and additional resources for deepening knowledge of DD.

Full Product Details

9780838948668

Table of Contents

Reviews

The writing is clear and practical and reflects both deep knowledge and strong advocacy. Their checklists, best practices tips, and extensive resources are very useful. Especially as many library workers have not had extensive training in programming for adults with developmental disabilities, this book will be very welcome. Indeed, the ideas are applicable to many kinds of programming and model universal design. -- Booklist

"""The writing is clear and practical and reflects both deep knowledge and strong advocacy. Their checklists, best practices tips, and extensive resources are very useful. Especially as many library workers have not had extensive training in programming for adults with developmental disabilities, this book will be very welcome. Indeed, the ideas are applicable to many kinds of programming and model universal design."" -- Booklist"

Author Information

Carrie Banks has been the director of Brooklyn Public Library's (BPL) The Child's Place for Children with Special Needs since 1997. She serves on BPL's Children's Steering Committee and on the Universal Access Community of Interest, which is part of Association for Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies (ASCLA). She has been the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) representative to ASCLA and has chaired committees including the Service to Special Population Children and Their Caregivers committee of ALA's Children's Services Division and the Schneider Family Book Award committee. She has also served on the Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audio Production committee. She helped draft national guidelines for serving people with disabilities in public libraries. She is a member of the Advisory Board of the National Gardening Association and the Programming Committee for Music for Autism. Her articles have appeared in Children and Libraries, and she is the author of a chapter about The Child's Place for the book From Outreach to Equity (ALA Editions, 2004). She has conducted inclusion training for institutions including BPL, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the New York Aquarium, and America Reads and is a frequent presenter at ALA conferences, most recently in 2011. Before BPL, she worked at New York Public Library. Her extensive background in services for children with special needs has included working with children who have dyslexia, a history of abuse, pediatric psychiatric diagnoses, and craniofacial differences. In 2000, she received New York University's Samuel and May Rudin Award for Community Services for her work with the disability community. In 2010, she received the Sloan Public Service Award, and, in 2012, she was named a Library Journal Mover & Shaker.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available