Join us for small sessions to learn about website accessibility. The same material will be presented at each of these sessions so register for the date and time that works best for you. We have several times available on April 27 and May 12.
Each session will cover:
Foundational Principles
- What is Digital Accessibility
- Why Digital Accessibility is Important
- 4 Pillars of Accessibility Standards | WCAG A, AA, AAA
Making Environments Accessible
- Accessibility Factors
- Logical Flow
- Headings
- Navigation
- Alt Tags / Alt Text
- Informative Images
- Decorative Images
- Best Practices
- Labeling and Tagging
- Color Contrast
The program will be presented by the staff of AKEA, a website design and accessibility firm in Lansing, Michigan. AKEA focuses on creating accessible websites that are easy to navigate for every single web visitor.
This workshop is supported by federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds allocated to the New York State Library by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).
Accessibility Principles: 1:00pm - 2:00pm Wednesday, April 27, 2022
Accessibility Principles: 2:30pm - 3:30pm Wednesday, April 27, 2022
Accessibility Principles: 9:30am - 10:30am Thursday, May 12, 2022
Accessibility Principles: 11:00am - 12:00pm Thursday, May 12, 2022
Accessibility Principles: 1:00pm - 2:00pm Thursday, May 12, 2022
Accessibility Principles: 2:30pm - 3:30pm Thursday, May 12, 2022
Tools for you to help you
Have you ever had to do something with a pdf only to find out that the only way to edit your document is to use the paid-for version from adobe $$$$. This website has you covered and it's free! https://www.ilovepdf.com/
You can merge, split, edit, rotate, or even add a watermark. This page is bookmark worthy.
Posters, Flyers Made from Cloth!
Tired of printing paper poster to have them rolled up or crushed as you try to transport them. Why no try a cloth poster
It's best to use Performance Pique fabric
TinyWow
Tinywow has many features but a couple that come to mind are the QR code generator and the HEIC to JPG (this one is great if you have an iPhone and want to use images outside of the apple ecosystem)
E-Cards
If you are looking to add a link on your website to the new e-card application this is the link you'll want to use https://pac.sals.edu/polaris/custom/selfreg
I created a few custom graphics and you can find them here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/8gnhboqjwuo1hffacyle4/h?dl=0&rlkey=z3dwm45rkrspv5g48fs9ikkno
If you need any assistance please let me know--I'd be happy to help.
Youth Services Meetup April 1st Review
For those unable to join us for the April Fools Day meetup, here is the rundown
Love Your Library Funds
The love your library funds come from the purchases of the love your library license plates and from the NYS "Love Your Library Fund" Tax Check-Off.
Proceeds from the plate's annual fee & the tax donation will help support Summer Reading at New York Libraries across the State.
In our last meeting with the Department of Library Development, it was mentioned that the state plans to release $150k worth of funds from this pot sometime this summer for summer reading. I'm not sure how much SALS will receive or when, but it should be greater than 3k. Depending on the time frame we may roll these funds over into the 2023 summer reading giving us a year to make some plans. As I receive more information I will continue to keep everyone updated
ReadSquared
If you need any assistance setting up your ReadSquared site please let me know. Also if you need any assistance linking your readsquared site to your webpage please let me know and I can help.
I created a few flyers for the web to link to your account, you can find and use my examples here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/4e6ppmh0lhb2gzw98k0gp/h?dl=0&rlkey=o5ncahc8ugyabr8pw926tfg6m
Or create your own. If you need any assistance adding links please let me know.
Summer Citizen Science Project
Pamela and I are working on creating water quality testing kits that you can distribute during your summer reading program. These take and make kits would be taken home by patrons who could then test their drinking water and submit their results to a webpage where they could view results from their surrounding communities. More information to come.
Information Literacy Instruction for Library Professionals
The Brooklyn Public Library is offing a free self-paced online course for all library staff.
"Now more than ever, library professionals must keep their information literacy skills fresh to help patrons combat misinformation and find reliable resources and tools."
"Review key information literacy foundational skills. Earn 12 hours of Continuing Education credit. Learn important strategies and techniques to help connect patrons with knowledge about the role of information in their lives."
Topics covered include:
- Research techniques
- Evaluating and sharing information
- Social media and free speech
- Information equity
- instructional strategies
- Presentation basics
- Empathy and crisis management... and more!
Enroll for free: https://bklynlibrary.teachable.com/p/info-lit-ny
NYC libraries are offering free digital library cards to people across the U.S.
The offer is being done in response to book bans that have cropped up around the country.
New York's libraries are taking a stand against recent book bans by giving readers across the U.S. access to their e-books for a limited time.
The NYPL is opening access to a selection of commonly banned books (including Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender, Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi and The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger via its free e-reading app, SimplyE, now through May.
The "unbanned books" can be browsed, borrowed, and read on any iOS or Android device via SimplyE, the free e-reader app, for those 13 and older. There's a specific "Books For All" collection that has hundreds of out-of-copyright/public domain books available to anyone in the country, with or without a library card. The “unbanned books” will be in that collection, with the added bonus of no wait times to read them.
In addition, the Brooklyn Public Library is offering young adults, ages 13 to 21 nationwide, the chance to apply for a free eCard from BPL in order to get access to the library’s extensive collection of eBooks. The card will be good for one year and is designed to complement access to resources for teens in their local communities.
BPL will also make a selection of frequently challenged books available with no holds or wait times for all BPL cardholders through the library's online catalog or Libby app, including The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta, Tomboy by Liz Prince, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, The 1619 Project by Nikole Hannah-Jones, Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong, and Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison.
Those 13 to 21, who access the free eCard from BPL, will be able to connect with their peers in Brooklyn, including members of BPL’s Intellectual Freedom Teen Council, to help one another with information and resources to fight censorship, book recommendations and the defense of freedom to read.
To apply for the card, teens can send a note to BooksUnbanned@bklynlibrary.org, or via the Library’s s teen-run Instagram account, @bklynfuture. The $50 fee normally associated with out-of-state cards will be waived. Teens are also encouraged to share videos, essays, and stories on the importance of intellectual freedom and the impact that book challenges and bans have had on their lives.
Full Article Here: https://www.timeout.com/newyork/news/nyc-libraries-are-offering-free-digital-library-cards-to-people-across-the-u-s-041322
Upcoming Webinars of Interest
- Copyright Basics: If you are an entrepreneur, you cannot afford to ignore copyrights Online--May 4th
Google Drum Machine
Sounds are complex and vary widely. This experiment uses machine learning to organize thousands of everyday sounds. The computer wasn’t given any descriptions or tags – only the audio. Using a technique called t-SNE, the computer placed similar sounds closer together. You can use the map to explore neighborhoods of similar sounds and even make beats using the drum sequencer.
Make your Beats here: https://experiments.withgoogle.com/ai/drum-machine/view/
More Google AI Experiments: https://experiments.withgoogle.com/collection/ai
Jarrett Lerner Activities
https://jarrettlerner.com/activities/
The Library is where I get a lot of my truly horrible ideas--for free!
Credits:
Created with an image by d97jro - "lego unicorn toy"