Columns

Welcome, Jeff Scott! Jeff Scott is the new Director of Berkeley’s Library Services. He commences his new role this month, November 2014.  

The American Library Association refers to people with disabilities as a large and neglected minority and a community severely underrepresented in the library “profession.” In addition to numerous personal challenges, many face economic inequity, illiteracy, cultural isolation, and discrimination in education, employment and the broad range of societal activities. (ALA Policy B.9.3.2 , “Library Services for People with Disabilities”)  

The ALA also recognizes “older adults,” another large and neglected minority. For purposes of the Guidelines for Library and Information Services to Older Adults, an “older adult” is defined as a person who is at least 55 years old. Many disabled persons must also acknowledge ailments and limitations associated with old age.  

Libraries should use strategies based on principles of universal design, which would ensure that library policy, resources and services meet the needs of all people. The term was coined to describe the concept of designing all products and the built environment to be aesthetic and usable to the greatest extent possible by everyone, regardless of their age, ability, or status in life. The preamble to the Library Bill of Rights states, “all libraries are forums for information and ideas.” By removing the physical, technological, and procedural barriers to accessing those forums, libraries promote the full inclusion of persons with disabilities into our society. To ensure such access, libraries should provide individuals with disabilities or who are homebound with home delivery service. 

The Guidelines commend several action approaches that include reaching out to older adults in the community who are unable to travel to the library. This might include assistance to older adults who are confined to private residences or who are unable to carry library materials home, innovative approaches to delivery of materials, and establishment of a volunteer delivery system.  

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In June 2010, I had watched and listened as Peter Warfield tried to get Council’s attention and was ultimately turned off. I had already discovered that the power structure sustaining the City of Berkeley Board of Library Trustees (BOLT) eschewed the presence on the Board, or among the public attending meetings, of professional librarians experienced with buildings and collection development. Many mobile elders preferred North Branch because: they could park there, there was an albeit limited Large Print books collection, they grew up there, they were comfy with the accessible professional librarian at an Information/Reference desk that had a seat right next to it, they weren’t necessarily computer-literate, etc. Berkeley senior centers and senior housing vans do not regularly schedule visits to or stop at libraries.  

The renovation plan displayed outside the North Branch library showed no consideration for universal design. My main concern was about space for collections – mainly books and other printed materials. The shelving of the traditional basic fiction and nonfiction collections was already “tight.” I anticipated provision designated for continuance plus expansion of Large Print books in all genres, reference books, mysteries, books-in-Japanese, science fiction, New Books, folios, etc.  

Sylvia Pastano pointed out that “There are no longer any medical reference books (as we boomers age!), no encyclopedia or dictionary in reference (what kind of reference collection is that?) … went to check something in the Bay Area Consumer Checkbooks and they had all been tossed. That information is not online. The Current Events bulletin board that I relied on to see what was happening in Berkeley has been gone for months. There is no longer a community feel there. The selection of interesting new books seems to be dwindling and the older books on the shelves are also getting pretty thin… There must be other North Branch patrons who are also upset about what is happening…” 

Today, North’s New Books space is still small, and they are jammed into dark, unlit shelves. The location for returning books, DVDs and magazines is about as far away from the main entrance as it could be. Universal design would have suggested having the return locale as close as possible to the main entrance, as it was pre-renovation. There is less space for Large Print books. NOTE: Recently, some of North Branch Library’s collections were temporarily relocated to the basement meeting room. I very much liked the make-do set-up: New Books, DVD’s, and Holds were much more accessible! 

The Berkeley Public Library recruits volunteers but does not utilize them for home deliveries. The Volunteer Application does not query whether the applicant has a vehicle and is willing to use it in volunteer service delivering books to family-less (without a proxy) homebound persons. It does ask the applicant’s age, computer skills and languages. The Library Van appears to be underused.  

The assumption that they all have computers and proxies renders senior citizens disabled. Public libraries appear to be unaware of the facts of seniors’ lives All homebound senior citizens do not have access to public libraries collections, books in particular. In announcing her retirement, Berkeley Public Library Director Donna Corbeil referred to the Branches as lively and exciting neighborhood destinations for all ages - accessible, safe, well-lighted and welcoming!  

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CALIFORNIA NEWS 

"State inadequately investigates nursing home complaints, audit finds," by Adolfo Flores (Los Angeles Times, October 31, 2014). 

NEWS 

Plans for the 2015 White House Conference on Aging — the first in 10 years — are beginning to take shape, writes Liza Kaufman Hogan in "The White House Plans An Aging Conference." (Forbes, October 30, 2014). Organizers are setting the agenda, reaching out to interest groups and gathering ideas from the general public through a new website and social media. The conference website was launched in October with preliminary plans, a blog and an invitation for visitors to share thoughts and ideas. 

White House Conferences on Aging are decennial events held to engage with and hear from stakeholders and individuals interested in issues that are important to older individuals and people in the aging field. The first WHCoA was held in 1961, with subsequent conferences in 1971, 1981, 1995, and 2005. These conferences have been viewed as catalysts for development of aging policy over the past 50 years. The conferences generated ideas and momentum prompting the establishment of and/or key improvements in many of the programs that represent America’s commitment to older Americans-- Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and the Older Americans Act. The dates and location have not been announced, although they are likely to be December 2015 in Washington, D.C. The 2015 conference will focus on four broad policy areas: retirement security, healthy aging, long-term services and supports, and elder justice. 

Nora Super has been named Executive Director of the conference. She has a public policy background and has been traveling the country, holding listening sessions with groups like the California Commission on Aging.  

Traditionally, the conference has hosted hundreds — sometimes thousands — of delegates who convened over several days to discuss and draft policy recommendations for the president and Congress. It has been funded through the Older Americans Act, but with OAA renewal in limbo, it is not clear whether there will be a 2015 conference. The Obama Administration has requested $3 million in the Fiscal Year 2015 budget to fund the effort. The last conference received $7.3 million in federal funding. Private organizations may assist as federal laws permit. Some sort of gathering will take place next year, scaled back from 2005 when 1,200+ delegates came to Washington to attend a real four-day conference.