Hiring Students with Disabilities in
the Academic Library

Most of us who work in academic libraries have frequent contact with students who have disabilities of various kinds—visual impairments, blindness, physical impairments, learning disabilities or deafness. We are privileged to know, to teach and to learn from this group of people who, by virtue of their presence on campus, have proven they are 1) intelligent enough to get into college, 2) courageous enough to leave familiar surroundings and enter a competitive environment, which is probably less protected than their previous environments, and 3) determined enough to expend the extra time or effort it takes to accomplish tasks with a disability. This is not to describe people with disabilities as a perfect, always heroic group of people who are above criticism. Some succeed and some fail. Some work very hard and some don't, just like the rest of the student population. However, in our experience and observation, the three traits enumerated above are present, in varying degrees to be sure, in every student who has a disability, has a desire to get a college education, applies and is accepted at a college or university, and begins work toward a degree. The traits of intelligence, courage and determination are traits valued in the job market, and there are many, many successes among persons with disabilities who are opting to get a college education and then enter the ranks of the employed.

One of the difficult things for all students is facing the job market when they finish their formal education. This is particularly challenging for persons with disabilities who, despite proven talents, good grades and university degrees, usually face skepticism about their capabilities when they search for a job after graduation. Good work experience in college, and good supervisor references are invaluable additions to a student's first resume and are particularly helpful to a student with a disability. The university work supervisor provides a positive reference for the student and can be a contact person for employers who are doubtful or concerned about hiring a person with a disability.

Hiring

Identifying a Position

A number of years ago a student service office on our campus at Northern Illinois University asked if the library had any student employment positions that a blind person could fill. We examined our student positions, but could not identify any that seemed reasonable. All the student positions had, as "primary functions," the tasks of shelving books, retrieving books, filing papers or helping other students with computerized searches. Our Information Desk student positions seemed best suited for blind student workers. However, we did not have an adapted computer at the Information Desk because this desk is entirely staffed by students, and student-employee positions are, by their very nature, part time and temporary.

Several years passed. We recently realized that the number of computer databases has mushroomed to the point where almost all search questions are referred from the Information Desk to the Reference Desk staff. Helping with computer searches was the Information Desk job component that had prevented us from hiring a blind student in the past. With that realization, we had identified a student job that could be done by a qualified blind student. The next steps were to recruit applicants and then to prepare the general library staff and, in particular, the Information Desk staff to work with the new student

While we also have a hearing-impaired student and a brain-injured student on our library student staff, this article will focus primarily on our experience with blind student workers. Every student with a disability has unique ways of dealing with specific things, and we consult with our students about any special arrangements

* Marcia A Dick, Library Technical Assistant, General Reference Department and Information Desk Services Supervisor, Northern Illinois University Libraries, DeKalb and Dorothy E. Jones, Reference Librarian and Coordinator of Library Services for Persons with Disabilities, Northern Illinois University Libraries, DeKalb.

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or adaptations they need to do their jobs well. Almost all of the principles involved in inclusion and adaptation can be applied when hiring and training a person with any type of disability.

Recruiting

Identifying positions that can be filled by students with disabilities and then recruiting applicants seems like a backwards way of going about filling a student position. However, Gil Johnson wrote in a recent article, "What makes some employers more accommodating than others? In general, businesses that have recruited visually impaired employees and responded actively to the ADA have a corporate culture that not only values employees but also acknowledges the importance of diversity."' The university is committed to "unity in diversity" and to being an "equal opportunity institution," and it actively encourages and supports minorities in their quest for learning and professional preparation. In the academic setting we have a wonderful opportunity to be proactive. We are a teaching and preparing institution. We recruit and choose students. We also choose our student workers who will leave their jobs in the library with new and marketable skills. They will develop abilities to work with the public or to work in a team or to supervise other students. They will learn professional behavior and how to deal with irritated library users. They will also learn ways of listening that enable them to offer better service. Working in the library constitutes a great opportunity and, with some concentrated effort, we can find ways to make this experience available to our students with disabilities. However, without our proactive involvement, we will lose this chance to gain highly motivated employees and to be of special service to this segment of the student community. The results of the Social Network Pilot Project, which was conducted from 1993 to 1996 and reported in two articles by S. Sacks and K. Wolffe, underscores the fact that blind and visually impaired students tend to have very limited work experience.^{2 and 3} Most students with, for example, visual impairments will not even apply for work in the library assuming there is nothing there for them. We had no job applications in our student personnel files on which a disability was "declared." We were going to need to actively recruit applicants.

We encouraged applicants in several ways. In our library, we have a librarian and two staff members with specific responsibilities for library services to students with disabilities. Many students with disabilities become well acquainted with these staff members, and will ask them about jobs. We also have a campus office, the Center for AccessAbility Resources (CAAR), which works directly with students with disabilities, offering services such as taping assignments, finding readers and guides, and administering class tests on adapted equipment. The library has built a very cooperative relationship with this office, and the CAAR staff knows many of the students very well. CAAR staff members recently have suggested to students that they apply for a job here. If there are other offices on campus designed to assist and integrate students with disabilities, it is good to establish a network of communication and mutual assistance. Some of these offices have their own newsletters and are happy to include any news items and notices that concern students with disabilities. If you don't have any of these "official" resources at your institution, then simply talking to students you meet, and suggesting that they talk to friends, will probably work as a recruiting method. Many students with disabilities know each other and make it a point to help each other out.

Interviewing

Because we received the names of interested students directly rather than from the student-applicant file, we altered the application/interview process a little, using the application questions as part of the job interview. Then the student and supervisor together filled out the form during the interview. As the interview proceeded, the supervisor detailed specific job duties or essential tasks of the position. The supervisor addressed the one task in the job description that a blind worker would not be expected to do, namely the shelving of books and indexes, and described how work assignments would be adjusted to accommodate this omission. Together, the interviewer and the job candidate analyzed each work activity, discussing any adaptations that might be helpful. It is very important that, in every interview, the requirements of the job are made clear, since the student with a disability will follow the same rules as everyone else and needs to have the qualifications and abilities to do the job successfully. For example, one primary function of the Information Desk job is to handle incoming telephone calls and to answer the callers' questions or transfer the calls to an appropriate area. This requires a good memory and/or the ability to organize information efficiently for fast retrieval.

In each interview, the supervisor described the training the student would receive from the supervisor and from others within the unit and made it clear that there would be extra time for practice and training if the student

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wanted it. The supervisor also assured the student that for the first several times students work at the desk, new students are paired with either the supervisor or a senior worker. This enables all new student workers to ease into the new routines expected of them with a reasonable amount of comfort. Another reassurance the supervisor gives the Information Desk students is that the General Reference Desk, which is always open when the Information Desk is open, is only 40 feet away. The reference person on duty can always help if the student is in a quandary.

Collegial Support

The support of the entire library staff is an important element in assuring the success of newly hired student workers with disabilities. In many institutions, employees are already aware of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and are ready and willing to make services and resources accessible to people with disabilities. If this is the situation in your library, hiring a student worker with a disability is just another logical step. Here are several areas of staff preparation that may be needed:

1. Disability awareness for all library staff.

2. Special consultation with student workers who will be colleagues of the students with a disability, and consultation with members of the department where that student will work.

3. Making sure the entire library staff knows of the plan to seek student employee with disabilities, so that more people can help identify possible positions.

4. Introducing the new student employee to various staff members throughout the library, helping to establish a welcoming atmosphere soon after the student is hired.

The preparation of staff relative to general disability awareness may or may not require a good deal of effort. Each library will have different needs for awareness or sensitivity training. Our library has had several people with disabilities on the regular staff and has participated in employment rehabilitation programs, such as Green Thumb for older persons and Community Restitution Services for youth. Because we have had a fairly long-term program of Library Services with Disabilities, we have had a number of awareness workshops over several years. Some of the topics covered were: attitudes toward disabilities; how to assist people in wheelchairs and people who are blind; sensitivity to invisible disabilities, such as learning disabilities; and safety/emergency procedures for persons with disabilities.

For the permanent staff and the student colleagues in the department where the new student will work, there needs to be a good deal of discussion before the new employee arrives. If the disability of the new employee is an invisible disability, such as a head injury or learning disability, it will be necessary to first make sure that the new student wants to disclose his/her disability. Colleagues will be much more supportive and accepting if they have felt free to express their discomforts, fears and questions. The supervisor can then assist everyone ahead of time with such matters as language or ways to guide a blind person. For example, the supervisor can assure student and staff colleagues that it is perfectly fine to say to a blind colleague, "See you tomorrow!" or, "Would you like me to guide you to the reference office until you know the way?" and offer an arm. Some cautionary guidelines may be in order. For example, when a guide dog is in the building and in his harness, he is considered to be "on the job," so no petting is allowed. To pet a guide dog, one must always get permission from the owner first.

The disabled student's colleagues should also know exactly what adaptations have been made in workload or technology or procedures and why they have been made. This helps prevent the silent resentment that sometimes exists and grows if the student with disability is perceived as receiving preferential treatment. With group consultation and discussion the supervisor can build a support group of people who really want the new student to succeed. All the student workers can watch for little adaptations that would make the work better and easier. The first semester we hired a blind student, several Information Desk student employees suggested good ideas for small adaptations that made certain tasks easier for the blind employee.

Many libraries have in-house newsletters in which new programs and activities can be publicized. Articles in these newsletters, discussions and announcements at departmental meetings, or specific memos are good ways to let colleagues know about hiring efforts, and they can also be the vehicle for small biographies about new student workers.

Other staff and faculty members within our building are occasionally called upon to provide additional training for the blind student. For instance, one day a blind student was working at the desk, and the stapler ran out of staples. The student called the on-duty reference librarian and asked to be shown how to reload the stapler. The librarian very methodically described the process as she guided the student's hand through the

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actual process. Then the librarian watched the student reload the stapler a couple of times without any help. The same student worker, who has several more years here before graduation, has now asked to have a staff member teach her, by verbal description, what the various computer screens look like as a patron progresses through a database search. The blind student hopes to be able to guide people through the screens to find call-numbers, publisher information, etc.

Adaptations/Training

Upon hiring a visually impaired worker, the supervisor and student will need to discuss each step of the workday and each activity that will be required of the student. Together they can then work out the adaptations and adjustments needed. Most of these will be minor and inexpensive. For example, one of our blind student workers had a small sign placed on the service desk stating, "Please let me know you are here. I am visually impaired." This prevented the problem of being unaware that someone was waiting for help. Another adaptation consisted of making Braille labels for the campus and local telephone books and also brailling a list of library service desk telephone numbers. Staff and faculty telephone numbers change so often that one of our visually-impaired students opted to program those numbers into a Braille-and-Speak, a piece of equipment the student already owned and used for note-taking and record-keeping. Often students with disabilities have favorite tools or electronic equipment for their living or studying activities and prefer to use these familiar tools at work.

Other small adjustments followed. We had the daily statistical log sheet brailled, and the students working the hour after the blind student transferred the data onto the standard form. We placed braille labels on the library floor maps used for giving directions, so the blind worker could hand the patron the correct map. Also, coworkers at the Information Desk have been careful to place items back into the storage cabinets in roughly the same place every night at closing time so the blind worker is able to open the desk and find the pencil sharpener and staplers with ease by feeling for them within the cabinet. However, we discovered we needed an "assistive device" for the sighted workers who couldn't remember where things belonged, so we placed masking-tape labels on cabinet shelves to help them.

One of the hardest things to remember is that all changes should be communicated verbally to the blind student. Memos issued to the student work staff should also be given to blind workers. They will read them using their computers or readers. However, memo content should also be communicated verbally, because it may not be possible for blind workers to read memos immediately. We also use e-mail and telephone messages, if theses are appropriate for the particular student. The supervisor just needs to remember to relay information to the blind student in appropriate formats so the student is never left out of the communication loop. Keeping all student workers updated about daily activities in a busy university library is crucial. When the library hosts a blood drive, for example, all the Information Desk student workers need to know the times and location of this event so the supervisor posts notices at the work area. A verbal reminder is helpful for the blind worker. When a new staff member is hired, make sure their phone numbers are given verbally to the blind worker and entered into whatever kind of record-keeping device the student uses.

There are a myriad of forms, handouts and brochures at the Information Desk. When the colors of brochures change, the blind workers need to know this so that he or she can direct the patron to the patron to the correct brochures by naming the color, "The library hours are listed in the green brochure over there."

We recently were confronted with the need for a new set of accommodations. Our newest blind student worker has a guide dog. We identified a particular bathroom for the student's use, so she could train the dog to guide her there. It was a large bathroom to give them more mobility once inside the area. The blind worker keeps a pan for the dog's water right in her work area. The supervisor initially spent time finding convenient locations and practicing routes with the blind student and dog, so the student could take the dog outside for necessary breaks. All supervisors accept the fact that sometimes an employee gets sick and goes home from the job early. In the case of a blind student, if the dog should get ill, they both need to leave early. This is a rare occurrence, but it needs to be clearly understood that the student and the dog are bound together.

Evaluation

Evaluation of a program or of how well work is getting done needs to be a continuous process. The supervisor of a blind student needs to listen for feedback from other co-workers and from the department to facilitate harmonious work activities. If there is grumbling about job tasks not being handled by the blind student, the supervisor needs to be attuned to that and deal with those issues as they arise. By pointing out to

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all the student staff the few things the blind student doesn't handle, such as re-shelving books, the supervisor can establish a reasonable level of expectation. It needs to be clear that the blind student will be substituting other work activities for the few things he or she cannot do.

The supervisor also needs to listen to feedback from the blind student. Our blind student workers have had some novel solutions to problems. For example, the first blind student who worked at the Information Desk differentiated between two different telephone books, local and campus, by the feel of the covers, and didn't want a Braille label. The campus book was used more frequently and had distinctive tears in the cover. A current blind student worker requested to be included in a microfiche project that entailed stuffing microfiche into separate envelopes. This required a job-task adaptation: the blind worker applies the call-number stickers onto the blank envelope or sleeve, and the sighted workers do the actual stuffing. The blind worker sometimes also stuffs the fiche, and then another worker checks to be sure they follow in the proper numerical sequence. These procedures changed the project pattern a little for everyone, but the project is moving faster and smoother.

At the end of every semester the Information Desk supervisor circulates a one-page questionnaire to all student workers asking their comments and suggestions. This reinforces the concept of teamwork. The various ideas gathered are discussed at future meetings and point out for the students the diversity they are likely to encounter upon joining the full-time work world after college. Years from now these students may be supervisors, and hopefully they will be open to hiring qualified people with disabilities and will already have some working knowledge of what this situation entails. Patricia Digh says, "Only 15 percent of people with disabilities in the U.S. were born with them; one in six Americans will be disabled at some time in their lives."⁴ At some point it is very likely that each of us will be working with persons with visual impairments or some other disability. We can be a part of helping everyone meet his or her potential.

Besides encouraging an ongoing evaluation for each individual student. This is a written report of how the students are handling the varied tasks they are assigned. In the initial interview, the supervisory mentions that all students go through the evaluation process and also mentions the traits on which they are to be evaluated. Quality and quantity of work, reliability, judgment, and cooperation are a few of these traits. The same standard is applied to the blind student as is to the sighted workers, preventing any hint of favoritism.

We hope to follow the disabled students' work progress after they leave the university setting. We are creating a simple questionnaire to send to them asking for ideas or suggestions for refining or revising our training. We need to know what we have omitted or where we need to spend more time. That way we can make the changes needed to keep the program viable and current. Many college students with disabilities have never worked at a paying job. We are hoping that our Information Desk "alumni" can tell us what are the most useful work skills they learned here and how they transferred these into their jobs or careers after college.

References

1 Johnson, Gil L., "Trends in the Hiring of People with Visual Impairments." Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, v.92, (June 1998): 404-406.

2 Sacks, Sharon and Wolffe, Karen E., "Lifestylesof Adolescents with Visual and Impairments: an Ethnographic Analysis." Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, v.92, (January 1998): 7-17.

3 Wolffe, K. and Sacks, S.Z., "The Lifestyles of Blind, Low Vision, and Sighted Youths: A Quantitative Comparison." Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness, v. 91, (May-June 1997): 245-257.

4 Digh, Patricia, "People with Disabilities Show What They Can Do." HR Magazine, v. 43, (June 1998): 141-145.

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