RLI 286  22 RESEARCH LIBRARY ISSUES: A REPORT FROM ARL, CNI, AND SPARC 2015 workstations, etc. But what does the staff member do when asked to leave his or her work space to assist someone who appears to be fully able to manage on their own? Every library, of course, will vary somewhat in how to handle such requests. But all staff who are likely to interact with users need to learn about accessibility issues, including, and perhaps especially, invisible disabilities. The Invisible Disabilities Association reports numerous stories of people with chronic fatigue, multiple sclerosis, Lyme disease, rheumatoid arthritis, chemical sensitivities, and other illnesses who are daily challenged about their use of parking spaces designated for “handicapped” users, or their requests for help to carry what may be seen as a very lightweight load.12 A patron with no visible hearing aid may ask a reference staff person to speak up, while the reference staffer feels he or she is talking quite loudly enough. A student may need a library instructor to slow down or repeat instructions because the student’s cognitive process works differently from that of most other classmates. An otherwise fit woman may request help carrying a small stack of books, because her “frozen” shoulder does not allow her to move her arm. Staff who interact with the public, including student staff who may be the only ones available in the stacks, need to be aware of and sensitive to the possibility that they may be called upon to provide assistance—and users should not be expected or required to disclose or “out” themselves in order to satisfy the curiosity or puzzlement of staff. Another mental shift may take place here—this student is not lazy and this faculty member is not refusing to pay attention to your instructions and this post-doc is not behaving from a sense of privilege and demanding unreasonable service. They may truly need help. How much support should library staff be trained to provide? This is a judgment call. Patron requests can range from quick questions to more time-consuming tasks. It is important to make sure that library services are designed to be flexible to meet the needs of diverse users, but it is also important to have policies in place to support staff in channeling time-consuming requests to the appropriate bodies within the organization or on campus. All library staff need to collaborate together on building more inclusive learning environments. Cultural competency is as critical to providing excellent public service as high-level competency in information retrieval. Some library staff might learn the latter through trial and error, but if they are working at an information service point, it behooves the institution to be certain that staff have the necessary skills in information retrieval before they begin interacting with the public, and some libraries may require lengthy training periods and close oversight for new service providers. Unfortunately, libraries do not typically supply similarly robust training and oversight to instill cultural competencies around any differences staff may encounter at service points, in classrooms, or in office consultations, even though most American research institutions draw users from all over the world. Training staff members to collaborate effectively while assisting researchers with disabilities is perhaps the most important initiative a library can take—one bad encounter with a staff member who is not knowledgeable or who acts inappropriately can permanently sour a patron’s relationship with the library, and word of mouth can easily give others a negative impression of the library even if they have never used its facilities or services personally. One common mistake of library staff reported by several blind library users is that they are not directly addressed when they are accompanied by a companion. Just as a
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