Online Webinar

Supporting Your Library's Disabled Community
Presenter: Karina Hagelin
Wednesday, April 20, 2022
11:00 am - 12:00 pm EST

As library workers and librarians, we all serve disabled patrons and communities, whether we are aware of this or not. Disabled patrons experience significant barriers to accessing library resources and have unique but diverse information needs. During this interactive webinar, we’ll learn from and with each other, as we all have specific skillsets we can share, as well as opportunities for personal and professional growth, to work towards creating more inclusive libraries, meeting our disabled patrons’ information needs, and eliminating barriers to resources.

Topics and themes covered will include:

• The different models of disability and how each model affects our understanding of what a disability is and who is disabled;
• Language, such as person-first vs. identity-first language and alternatives to commonly used ableist words and phrases;
• The unique but diverse information needs of disabled patrons;
• Barriers disabled patrons face when accessing library resources;
• Developing programming & outreach initiatives to reach and support your library’s disabled community
• Recommended readings, resources, and continuing education opportunities

Presenter:  Karina Hagelin

Karina Hagelin is an artist, activist, and librarian who works alongside library workers who are committed to creating cultures that center healing through radical empathy, collective care, and advocacy work. Using their lived experiences as a chronically ill & disabled queer femme survivor, graduate research on trauma, ableism, and collective care, and expertise on trauma-informed librarianship, they lead diverse groups of library workers through engaging, interactive, and informative webinars and workshops to build holistic libraries in which both patrons and staff with a variety of lived experiences feel supported, valued, and able to show up as their whole selves. They received their MLIS from University of Maryland, College Park and most recently worked as an Outreach and Instruction Librarian at Cornell University.