Module 3 Blog Post

 I consider my most embarrassing moment in my professional life to be the time that I was assisting a student who I did not realize had a visual impairment. I was trying to assist a student wirelessly print from their laptop. They were running late for their next class and their credentials weren't working for the wireless printing service and to print from her own laptop, I knew she would have to go to IT and have her credentials reset so she could wirelessly print from her laptop. She did not have time to do that so I suggested she send her materials to herself via email and use one of our public computers to print. She seemed frustrated and let me know that our computers were inaccessible to her. She wouldn't have been able to see to print from our computers. I was extremely embarrassed to have so thoughtlessly assumed that anyone could access our computers. Unfortunately, accessibility at my institution campus-wide has not been a priority, and it became one of my goals to purchase assistive technologies and provide training for student staff and full time staff in those areas. 

One thing I've struggled with is trying to assess whether it would be okay to have a separate public workstation completely outfitted with assistive technology like magnifiers for books, a computer already set up for visual and audio impairments, and more. Some of my staff have argued that having a "separate" workstation would make users feel disinclined to use it because it is so obviously separate from the rest of our public workstations. One one hand I agree, but on the other hand I also agree that someone in experiencing difficulty with how our computers are set up should not have to ask someone for help, but that it would be more equitable to have space where this can occur independently of assistance from library staff. I am definitely looking at the purchase of assistive technologies for check-out, as well. 

Completing the MES lab reaffirmed my belief that we can do both. Something I noticed in my simulation was how obnoxiously small everything is. Trying to use a remote was difficult given how tiny the buttons are and the visual/audio impairments made me feel like I didn't have the same experience as I should have had watching the film, but it wasn't obvious what I could do to enhance my experience or to just be able to relax and be interested in what I was watching. I think having a set up in our library for walk-up use without someone having to go out of their way to ask for help makes usage more equitable, especially in an academic library where the student experience is so fast-paced. One thing I noticed in the MES lab is how long everything seemed to take me to use my tv and understand what was going on. This made me feel isolated. Maybe having a workstation already built to meet those needs would be a great option in addition to high-scaled staff training on these techniques and technologies.