Beyond Late Fees: Eliminating Access Barriers for all Community Members

To register for this webinar please follow this link: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1505936628427143694?source=Michigan. Sessions are free and available only to members of the Michigan library community. Registrants will receive instructions and a link to attend the session directly from PCI after they register.

When a library charges fees, denies service, or requires patrons to jump through hoops to gain access, who benefits? Certainly not the patrons that need library service the most.

This presentation will discuss how one rural public library learned to take a hard look at what it really means to provide library service focused on empowering all community members. Institutional barriers can be difficult to take down and - for some - difficult to recognize.

• Recognize how library policies and procedures disenfranchise the populations that need library services the most
• Identify “this has always been the way” practices and the harm inequitable services cause
• Take home real-life examples of mind-set changes and how to implement them within the boundaries of governing rules

Instructor: Carrie Valdes has been the Director of the Grand County Public Library in Moab, UT since 2007 although she has worked for the library for 21 years. She has a MLS from the University of North Texas and a Bachelor’s in Human Resources from Utah State University. She has lived in Utah all her life (except for a brief stint in Mexico) and is passionate about reducing barriers to library access for all community members.

PCI Webinars are recorded and available to members of the Michigan library community in the Library of Michigan's Niche Staff Skills Academy about a week after they air. New webinars will be in the New category for several weeks. You do not need to register for a webinar in order to view it later in the Staff Skills Academy.

This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Library of Michigan.