Volunteers have contributed successfully to the work of public and school libraries since time immemorial and there are many examples of libraries, especially for patients in hospitals which would ...
The increasing involvement of library and information professionals in learning and teaching is clearly evident from the growing number of publications and websites devoted to the teaching of information literacy. From this issue, Health Information and Libraries Journal continues its column on learning and teaching, but adds the words 'in action' to the title. Why? To encourage the development of a tool to support the practitioner involved in the action of learning and teaching of information skills in a health care or academic setting. It is hoped that this first column will provide a useful tool to engage librarians and information professionals in making their teaching sessions more accessible to participants with disabilities. Most of the guidance provided here has been developed through the Teachability Project. A brief description of the Project is followed by a closer look at some of the resources produced and suggestions for accessible course design, preparation, materials and accommodation for teaching sessions. The Teachability Project, based at the University of Strathclyde, was funded by the Scottish Funding Council (formerly the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council), from 1999 to 2006 in response to evolving disability legislation and a growing awareness among higher education institutions for the need to be more inclusive in their learning and teaching activities. The extension of the UK Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) to education in 2002, and amended in 2006, created and still creates complex challenges for teaching staff in higher education. Part 4 of the DDA, the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (SENDA), made it unlawful for students to be treated 'less favourably' than others. There was now a requirement to make 'reasonable adjustments' to services for students and to anticipate their needs. This law applies to all services provided by an educational institution and all types of students, including distance learners. The main aim of the Teachability Project was to be informative about accessible teaching methods and persuasive, rather than prescriptive, in encouraging academic staff to adopt accessible learning and teaching practices. Without focusing on the teaching of particular subjects or specific disabilities, the Project was grounded in the real experiences of disabled students trying to access courses of study, and of academic staff devising often innovative ways of enhancing that access. One of the outputs of this project is the publication of a series of Teachability booklets on different aspects of the curriculum: information about courses or programmes, course design, teaching methods, placements, practical classes, elearning and examinations for disabled students. The booklets, which are all available on the Teachability website,1 include quotations from disabled students and academic staff, a question and answer section on disability legislation and a checklist to help evaluate teaching practice. From December 2006, the DDA (2005) expanded the definition of disability and introduced a new Disability Equality Duty on public sector authorities to eliminate unlawful discrimination of disabled people; promote equality of opportunity for disabled people; publish a Disability Equality Scheme. The involvement of disabled people in developing and evaluating services is central to this new duty. Information professionals have been active in promoting accessible services to disabled users for many years and the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) has produced a series of Equal Opportunities Briefings which includes a guide to organizing accessible courses and conferences.2 Support is also provided by the Disability Rights Commission in its guidance for library services3 and for learning and teaching.4 As many librarians become more involved in teaching, there is a greater need to acquire more specialized skills and knowledge about pedagogy and inclusive teaching practices from course design through to assessment and course evaluation. In developing an information skills course, due consideration needs to be given at an early stage to its design. Does the course or programme design demonstrate an awareness of the diverse needs of disabled learners who might want to study it? Are the course presenters clear about whether the course includes any competence standards which are 'genuine' according to the revised Part IV DDA Code of Practice, section 5. (The significance of this latter point is that only genuine competence standards would be immune from the duty to make reasonable adjustments, and even genuine competence standards ought to be open to alternative means of their demonstration.) Course design should include information about the overall aims and objectives of the course; content and curriculum, including structure and intended learning outcomes; modes of delivery and learning methods; assessments; course materials; resources, including staff, library, computing and audio-visual and accommodation.5 Most information skills programmes are designed to be computer based and some; for example, distance learning courses, will be web-based or use a virtual learning environment such as the Blackboard Academic Suite.6 In designing an online course, it is important to consider any potential barriers for disabled students. An academic institution will probably have an accessibility policy which sets out an accessible standard of software and defines responsibilities for meeting this standard. Within the institution there may be access to assistive technologies, so that web and elearning content can be evaluated under different browsing conditions that might be experienced by students. The World Wide Web Consortium's Web Accessibility Initiative is another useful source of advice on web accessibility.7 In creating accessible elearning, make sure that information provided in graphical or audio format is provided with an equivalent text alternative. If colour is used to signify different types of information in a course, check that this is also available without requiring colour perception. A more challenging aspect in designing an online course would be to make sure that features on web pages do not rely on a mouse to reveal information. Can the same information be made available through the keyboard? Good practice for all online courses would be to ensure navigation is as easy and intuitive as possible. The Teachability guidance warns against pleading a lack of knowledge of accessible design techniques, or claiming technical limitations as a reason for a disabled student being excluded from using an elearning resource successfully.8 Information skills training can also include face-to-face sessions; for example, lectures or seminars where overheads or Powerpoint slides may be used. When designing and preparing these materials, it is important to ensure there are no unnecessary barriers to accessibility. The Teachability guidelines recommend using Arial or Verdana at minimum font size 30, with sharp contrast between text and background colour, mixed case rather than all upper case, bold rather than underlining or italics and left-hand justified text, for maximum accessibility.9 To accommodate the needs of students with a range of disabilities, a good strategy would be to provide handouts of slides or overheads in advance. Making material available in digital format prior to the training session will enable access via assistive hardware or software, such as magnification or screen reading software. Assessments and evaluation forms should also be designed in an accessible format, otherwise feedback on the course will not take into account the views of disabled students. Just as the design and preparation of materials for a course may make it accessible or inaccessible in a variety of ways, the physical location and accommodation should also be planned with accessibility in mind.9 The accessibility or otherwise of IT suites, lecture theatres and seminar rooms will affect the attendance of some students with disabilities. For example, height-adjustable tables in an IT suite will assist students who use wheelchairs to gain access to the computers. Hearing impaired students who lip-read will probably benefit from good lighting in all types of teaching accommodation, as well as the availability of a loop induction system. If the teaching sessions involve group working, ensure a 'quiet' corner or an alternative room is available for the group which includes students with hearing or speech difficulties. The layout of furniture in teaching rooms can also help or hinder access for some disabled students. Ensure students are given the opportunity to decide where they would like to sit, such as in proximity to the speakers or overhead projector (OHP) screens. At least some seating should provide good back support. Checking out accommodation prior to the teaching session is the key: if the accessibility of the venue has not been considered in advance, then there may be little which can be done to improve the situation on the day of the event.9 Recent legislation in the UK has made it imperative that unlawful discrimination against disabled people is eliminated and equality of opportunity for disabled people is promoted. Although there are many examples in the literature of libraries making their services accessible to disabled users, these have tended to focus on the traditional lending and reference services and less on the role of library professionals providing accessible learning and teaching. It is hoped that the resources created through the Teachability Project will be utilized and promoted by library and information professionals and that the benefits to all students will be recognized and will act as a stronger incentive to think about changes than the basic requirement to comply with legislation.
The purpose of this study was to examine possible trends in the research designs used in Ugeskrift for Laeger during 25 years. The scientific articles in 12 issues of the journal selected at random from each of the years 1959, 1964, 1969, 1974, 1979, and 1984 were reviewed. From each article, the following information was obtained: type of article (original paper, case report, or review), origin of the paper and number of authors. For the original papers, it was noted whether it was a longitudinal or a cross-sectional study, and whether it was a cohort or a trohoc study. Furthermore the number of subjects and the use of control group, randomization and blinding were registered. The number of articles and the number of authors per article increased during the period. Contrary to similar studies of some widely circulated English-language journals, we could not demonstrate any increase of the frequency of studies with weak research design. On the other hand, no striking improvement was observed either. Most studies had no control group and randomization and blinding were used in less than 10% of the original papers. The present study does not permit an evaluation of whether the research designs used i Ugeskrift for Laeger are satisfactory.
Recent legislation in Britain and elsewhere has implications for librarians and others serving people with disabilities. This paper considers one type of disability: the communication and information needs of deaf people. A review of the literature indicates that the professional development of both health professionals and librarians is not preparing them for communication with deaf people. A growing recognition of the need for deaf awareness training among library staff is discussed. A number of training resources are mentioned with a checklist of good communication skills.
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