IFLA WLIC 2018

Kuala Lumpur

Synopsis prepared by Corinne Hill, Public Libraries Section member.

Sponsored by Metropolitan Libraries and the Public Libraries Section, this program had the unenviable scheduling position next to IFLA’s Global Vision session. Nevertheless, Sanctuaries still drew a respectable crowd.

The session opened quite strongly with Derr Leonee Ariel’s “Public Libraries are safe and neutral spaces…when people aren’t in them!“From Malvern Library in Melbourne, Australia, Ms. Ariel delivered a compelling presentation framed around the use of language, and why language matters. She is a lover of language, and evidence of this can be seen throughout her entire presentation. She spoke of how “the past informs practice and expectations today.” My favorite slide was when she compared “Safe and Sanctuary,” vs “Inclusive and Refuge.”

What I took away from this was that we build trust with our communities over time. While we have standards of behavior when working in public space there is the reality of what it is truly like to work in a public space—and it’s not a safe space. We strive to create inclusive experiences in an unpredictable world often with vulnerable populations not captured in census.

Ms. Ariel see’s our future as social justice in action—while we are not a political institution, our current political environment has made us one.

She is someone to watch as she has her pulse on our current predicaments. I encourage you to read her presentation in its entirety:

http://library.ifla.org/2272/1/114-derr-en.pdf

Walsh Benjamin followed with his “Public library and private space: Homeless queer youth navigating information access and identity in Toronto.” Mr. Benjamin examines the public library as an important space for homeless lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, transsexual, two-spirit, and/or queer youth. As an academic librarian, he’s report stands at the intersection of public library services and library research—something not well represented in the literature and something for which he should receive accolades.

The first challenge to delivering services to this population is finding them –essentially, delivering services for those you cannot see. Homeless queer youth often hide their identity and such deception often leads to chronic and/or critical information poverty. Essentially, queer youth are seeking privacy in an Urban Hybrid Space as they cannot embrace their queerness in a public space.

The entire presentation is available here:

http://library.ifla.org/2144/1/114-walsh-en.pdf

The discussion shifted to building design with Traci Engel Lesniski, Minneapolis, USA, “Welcome to All: Design’s Role in Creating an Inclusive, Safe, and Beloved Community Destination.” Ms. Engel spoke of the community’s resistance to the Central Library’s redesign identifying it as a “fancy homeless shelter and an irrelevant space for the rest of the population.” Ms. Lesniski’s architectural firm, MSR,  took this “homeless issue” as a design challenge recognizing the actual and perceived safetyissues. They incorporated onsite offices for social service providers, study rooms for consultations, computer table design that allowed for privacy and space for belongings of the homeless, and they created a 2nd controlled entry to the children’s suite. Essentially, MSR turned the library from a fear-based program to a home-based program, and opened in 2013 to community acclaim. The entire presentation is available here:

http://library.ifla.org/2218/1/114-lesneski-en.pdf

Libraries Without Borders, Paris, France presented “Libraries as vectors of integration for immigrants and refugees: access to information and education in the Ideas Box in France.” With 68.5 million displaced individuals worldwide, libraries play an important role in integrating immigrants and refugees into host communities. The “Ideas Box” is a flexible, modular, mobile library that makes for an excellent outreach tool. Outreach to displaced individuals helps them to regain a sense of normalcy after trauma, and demonstrates that the library is a place to build hope again. Presentation not available.

Continuing the discussion of the public library as a safe space, “Public library as a safe place: principles and experiences of Brazilian Park Libraries in Rio de Janeiro,” looks at a public library as a space and place rather than as a service. Park Libraries in Rio de Janeiro are located in very poor and violent regions of the city. The purpose is to explore the social capital theory as it applies to public libraries. The entire presentation is available here:

http://library.ifla.org/2143/1/114-silva-en.pdf

The final presentation, “Library for the homeless: A case study of a Shelter House and a School for Homeless in Indonesia and Malaysia,” examined the impact of library materials and services at homeless shelters. The study found that sustainability is an issue both for materials and staff training. The entire presentation is available here:

http://library.ifla.org/2140/1/114-lastiwi-en.pdf

By Guest Blogger

Lo Claesson

Here is a short summary of the session “What is universal design for libraries? – A joint session by Library Services to People with Special Needs, Public Libraries and Library Services to Persons with Print Disabilities”:

The first speaker was Knut M. Nygaard, Director of Norwegian Library of Talking Books and Braille. He talked about different terminology, used for about the same concept as “universal design”. The aim of universal design is to simplify life for everybody. Target groups are everybody, regardless of age, size or ability. You can talk about universal design at threee levels: a strategic level (macro), technical solutions and standards (meso) and individual perspective (micro).

The next speaker was Anne Sieberns, German Institute for Human Rights. Her presentation was on Universal Design and Human Rights. There is a Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CPRD), which now (June 2018) is ratificated by 177 State Parties.
Then we heard about guidelines for universal design in Finnish libraries by Kirsi Ylänne, Celia Library Finland. The English translation of the guidelines is available (pdf) at https://www.celia.fi/eng/accessible-library/ . It is published on a Creative Commons  license and can be translated and adopted into other languages.

Then Mr Hiroshi Kawamura held an oral presentation on Universal Design an Print Disabilities – DAISY Technology and Accessible Multimedia. He stressad that universal design does not exclude assistent technology for those who need it. There is also an issue of accesibility for for example indigenous people. It´s a very complex matter.

We also got some best practices from the UK from Mark Freeman as Yarm Library, Chelmsford Library, Great Sankey and Ammanford Library. These libraries also include persons with autism or dementia in their design thinking.

Nancy Bolt from the section Library Services to People with Special Needs finished the session by summarazing what has been done in the section in recent years: Guidelines concerning people with Dyslexia, people experiencing homelessness and people who are deaf, hard of hearing and deaf/blind. They are planning to do guidelines concerning refugees and prisons as well. They are also suggesting how the IFLA conferences can be more accessible in the future. The on-going conference is not very accesible for people using wheel chairs.