Services for Library Users Who Are Differently-abled

General Accessibility

With regard to the issue of accessibility to library services for anyone who uses a wheelchair and who is using the Central Library's meeting room, the library will be installing an elevator as part of its building renovation project and has had a $22,000 LSCA grant approved for this purpose. The match from local library development funds will be $33,000 for an total project cost of $55,000. The renovation project is in its initial planning stages with the building program to be drawn up this fall. The elevator will be available when construction is completed in September 1999.

Service to the Meeting Room

The following are examples of the kinds of service that can will be provided on request to the meeting room during regular library business hours.

A library user may notify the staff of a need for service through a phone call to the library information desk ((410-228-7331 (voice) or 410-228-0454 (TDD) or through the Maryland Relay Service)) in advance of arriving at the meeting room or through the meeting room's intercom system when in the meeting room.

Circulation staff can register an individual for a library card by taking the application form to the meeting room to be completed and then returning upstairs to enter the registration on its computerized system.

Staff can research a subject request or deliver reference material to the meeting room for use there. Circulating materials can be checked out on an individual's library card upstairs and then delivered to him or her in the meeting room.

The library meeting room has a data port and the library's laptop computer is configured to enable the individual to have access in the meeting room to the Internet and "Harriet," the online catalog. The laptop computer will be checked out to the library user under the regular procedures for equipment use in the meeting room.

The library offers a books-by-mail program and subsidizes the related postage costs for those with physical challenges that prevent them from visiting the library.

If an individual chooses to make use of them, there are handicapped parking spaces located directly across from the main entrance to the library on Gay Street and in the City of Cambridge's parking lot.

Other Services

Library users may request materials through the Dorchester County Public Library from the Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped.

The library has a portable closed circuit television (CCTV) unit that magnifies materials for those with limited vision, a collection of large print books, and a collection of books-on-tape.

Services to the deaf community include a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) access to the library's information desk; TDD units, closed caption decoders, closed captioned videotapes for loan, and an assistive listening device in the library's meeting room. A signer will be provided upon request for any library-sponsored program, such as, story times. Seven days notice may be needed and therefore is requested to arrange for signer for any given program.

Assistive animals are welcome in the library.

In the library's information department, a PC workstation has been configured with regard to its hardware to provide access to the library's automated systems and services. Due to the ever- changing market for software that may be used to provide access, the library's staff and automation consultant will confer with the user to determine what software package will meet the user's needs. The library has established a fund to purchase and install any such software.

The library's information department has been evaluated by the State of Maryland's Division of Library Development and Services to be one of the top four county libraries in the State in providing accurate and complete information in response to library users' questions. The library's information department is prepared to assist users with questions related to obtaining materials and/or services for individuals who are differently-abled. Within its own collections, the library maintains materials on related topics and issues and can obtain materials not held through sources, such as, the Internet or the statewide inter-library loan service.

Let Us Know

It is the library's policy to make its services available to all who wish to use them and its staff will work with the user to make that possible. We appreciate being made aware of any way in which we can better serve library users with physical challenges. All recommendations in this regard should be forwarded by the staff to Assistant Director Susan Steele or Director Jean Del Sordo.

Library users may contact Ms. Steele or Ms. Del Sordo directly by calling either of them at 410-228-7331or 410-228-0454 (TDD) or through the Maryland Relay Service. E-mail addresses for Ms. Steele and Ms. Del Sordo are ssteele@dorchesterlibrary.org and jdelsordo@dorchesterlibrary.org respectively. Correspondence should be addressed to Dorchester County Public Library, 303 Gay Street, Cambridge, MD 21613.

If this information is needed in large print or other alternate formats, please contact Ms. Steele or Ms. Del Sordo as noted above.