Park City Library has a three-year strategic plan that focuses on user experience, inclusivity, community relationships, and lifelong learning. The Library has defined inclusivity as creating an environment in which our differences are celebrated and supported. This blog post summarizes the Library’s work towards the 2023 inclusivity goal of conducting a diversity and accessibility audit. The Library’s next inclusivity goal will be to prioritize and plan changes based on the audit.
Diversity Audit
The diversity audit was conducted by Baker & Taylor’s collection performance improvement solution called collectionHQ. collectionHQ provides public libraries with a set of powerful tools that support the collection management and development process. Friends of the Library supported this audit by paying for a one-year subscription to collectionHQ.
Healthy communities need access to inclusive library collections where patrons can find material that lets them see a reflection of themselves and celebrate the differences that drive cultural, economic and social innovation.
Yet creating and managing a collection that encompasses the wealth of human experiences can be complex and time consuming.
Baker & Taylor
This tool provides us with a dataset of diverse items within our collection. This year’s goal is to implement collectionHQ. Our goal for next year is to present collection development priorities.
After reviewing our first dataset with Baker & Taylor, the amount of total DEI (diversity, equity, & inclusion) items in our collection is average for most libraries in North America. DEI topics included in this audit are:
- Race: Asian, Black, Hispanic & Latino, Indigenous, Middle Eastern & North African, and Multicultural
- Disabilities & Neurodiversity
- Equity & Social Issues
- LGBTQIA & Gender Studies
- Mental & Emotional Health
- Religion
- Substance Abuse & Addictions
From reviewing the data, the Library has strong collections in the following areas:
- The Library’s percentage for “Equity and Social Issues” across all collections is quite high. This is partly due to the implementation of the Sustainability Resource Center and purchasing of quality materials that focus on sustainability, climate change, and activism.
- The Library’s overall DEI percentage for the teen collection is very high compared to other collections. This is partly due to teen literature’s focus on social issues and identity.
- The Library’s percentage for “LGBTQIA+ & Gender Studies” in our adult and teen graphic novel collections is high. This is partly due to items being purchased from Under the Umbrella, a Utah queer bookstore.
- The Library’s percentage for “Mental & Emotional Health” in our juvenile and teen collections is high. This is partly due to picture books focusing on children’s self-esteem, emotions, and feelings. In the teen collection, this is partly due to books focusing on friendship, coming of age, self-esteem, eating disorders & body image, death & dying, etc.
Accessibility Audit
The accessibility audit was conducted with the assistance of the National Ability Center’s (NAC) staff. At the beginning of the audit, NAC staff suggested a library representative use a wheelchair for the duration of the audit to experience and navigate the Library as a wheelchair user would. This experience led us to find the items that need to be addressed:
- Position self-check machines to be more accessible.
- Position furniture far enough apart to allow access to someone in a wheelchair.
- Have a high-quality reacher available at the main desk for anyone who would like to use it.
- Position displays in the Youth and Teen area toward the center of the bookshelves instead of the tops.
- Consider the placement of new items to be lower.
As the audit continued, the following recommendations were made:
- Add adult changing tables to restrooms.
- Install an emergency transfer chair in the third floor stairwell.
- Consider adding more wheelchair accessible spots to the auditorium.
Beginning Improvements
A few changes have been made in this fiscal year, such as positioning the furniture and self-check machine to be more accessible. A high-quality reacher is now at the main desk in addition to the Kulture City bags.
The purchase of the Stryker evacuation chair is moving forward using Community Library Enhancement Fund (CLEF) Payment distributed by Utah State Library, as it supports ADA enhancements.
A capital improvement request has been submitted to Park City Municipality for consideration of funding two adult changing tables. This funding request has been approved and will be implemented in fiscal year 2024.
Park City Film and Park City Municipality have partnered to replace the seating in the Library’s auditorium. The process of planning the new seating included conversations about accessibility and the addition of more wheelchair accessible seats and seats with transfer arms where the arm rest can be moved up.