University Libraries’ Accessibility Committee marks 9 months of progress

April marks nine months since the Central Michigan University Libraries’ Accessibility Committee began its work. Established in July 2024, the committee is made up of five faculty and staff affiliated with CMU Libraries. The ongoing goal of this committee has been to use varying means of assessment to identify as accurately as possible the accessibility of CMU Libraries as a campus resource and make our accessibility resources known to constituents.

Over the past 9 months, the Central Michigan University Libraries Accessibility Committee has worked on an in-depth audit of the CMU Libraries physical space, collections, and services.  We have also met with disability-centered groups on campus such as the Autism Spectrum Club.  Finally, we have most recently collaborated with Student Disability Services to distribute surveys to students with various physical, emotional, and intellectual disabilities. The goal of these initiatives has been to learn how well the library follows accessibility rules and to better understand what students need.

Now that those projects are done, the committee is focusing on its next big goal—letting people know about the accessibility resources the library offers. This comes in the form of a newly structured Accessibility Services Page. This page will have four main sections and share information about resources like elevators, study spaces, help with finding books and items, and assistive technology. Our goal is that this page will more readily highlight the resources we have to offer, lead to their increased use, and make the library an even more accessible space.

We are excited to see how our projects will help improve CMU Libraries and the resources it provides in the future.