Advancing IDEAs: Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, 10 December 2024

The following post is one in a regular series on issues of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility, compiled by a team of OCLC contributors.

Design accessing learning interfaces for neurodiverse users

Close up of a mobile device with the definition for the word design.
Photo by Edho Pratama on Unsplash

In light of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)’s rule change that now requires all web content and mobile applications provided by state and local governments, including public higher education institutions, to be accessible to people with disabilities and the passing of Disability Awareness Month, many new and important resources are available to libraries including the Neurodiversity Design System. These design principles are specifically tailored to learning managements systems, though they hold a bevy of gems for online information sharing and design choices. Topics covered in the system may already be known to designers as good practice, though many do not realize that designing for universal understanding is always the best design option. Real world examples are provided for how to format numbers (font, size, and spacing), buttons, links and input fields, and animations. The site also provides helpful definitions, legal requirements, and user personas to connect the design choices with the user experience.

What I liked most about this toolkit is its user experience! The website is well-organized with a lot of information that is easy to navigate. Structure in information organization is a key wayfinding tool which allows anyone familiar or unfamiliar with a website to go right to their intended endpoint. What’s most valuable about this toolkit for non-designers is the “under the hood” look at users. When you consider the types of disabilities that can affect a person’s experience navigating information online, you become immediately aware that you know people who have trouble navigating online. People in your life experience challenges, and most of them go unnoticed or unvoiced. When we design for all types of people, these challenges fall away making navigation successful, saving tons of stress and time. Contributed by Lesley A. Langa.

Reparative language in finding aids at Haverford College

A recent post in Descriptive Notes, the blog of the Society of American Archivists Description Section, details an effort at Haverford College (OCLC Symbol: HVC) to review legacy finding aids for racist or harmful language and to revise language accordingly. With over 1,400 collections, this was a daunting undertaking but was supported by both the library’s strategic plan and campus funding to support DEI efforts. The blog post, “Undertaking a Reparative Language Project at Haverford College,” details the many steps in the project to review and remediate descriptions.

This article highlights both the scale of the problem of legacy harmful descriptive practices as well as solutions which has involved tapping into available funding, bringing in contractors (who were either early career professionals or MLIS students), and later involving Haverford undergraduate student workers. The project drew on knowledge gleaned from previous efforts, such as the Archives for Black Lives in Philadelphia project and work done by Duke and Yale.  As of now, over 1,500 finding aids have been reviewed at least once for harmful language. Future collections will benefit from revisions to processing guidelines, and the project has generated other tools such as a spreadsheet recording the names that groups have identified for themselves. Ultimately, this project reflects some truths about reparative descriptive work: it is work that benefits from focus driven by local priorities and takes an iterative approach. Readers will find projects to inspire in a series of posts in Descriptive Notes that focus on the topic of inclusive description. Contributed by Merrilee Proffitt

National Day of Racial Healing, 21 January 2025

Since it was conceived in 2017 by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF), the National Day of Racial Healing (NDORH) has been “a time to contemplate our shared values and create the blueprint together for #HowWeHeal from the effects of racism.” Observed annually in the United States on the Tuesday after Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, NDORH “is an opportunity to bring ALL people together and inspire collective action to build common ground for a more just and equitable world.” Especially in these days of divisiveness across so many human fault lines, OCLC WebJunction’s “2025 National Day of Racial Healing” article is both timely and valuable, providing ideas and inspirations for events, activities, and actions that libraries and their communities might plan for 21 January 2025. Included are details of events and programs organized in recent years by half a dozen public libraries around the United States, the “Read to Dream” list compiled by King’s family and others, and links to numerous other resources.

The work toward healing across all dividing lines must go on constantly, of course, not only on a single day. WKKF defines racial healing as: “… the experience shared by people when they speak openly and hear the truth about past wrongs and the negative impacts created by individual and systemic racism. Racial healing helps to build trust among people and restores communities to wholeness, so they can work together on changing current systems and structures so that they affirm the inherent value of all people.” WKKF has been cooperating with libraries and other educational institutions on racial equity and related issues as part of its Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation  efforts. The American Association of Colleges and Universities and the American Library Association are prominently among its partners. Contributed by Jay Weitz.