Autism in Libraries: Serving Your Patrons and Colleagues
Participants will learn more about serving their patrons with autism and how to better create an inclusive workforce for library staff who may be on the autism spectrum and/or neurodiverse. Both youth services and adult services staff will learn the basics of autism and the related topic of neurodiversity as well as communications/customer service practices.
Topics Covered:
- Basics of autism and neurodiversity
- Communication and Customer Service
- Sensory Storytimes
- Children and Teen Library Programming
- Outreach and Marketing for Youth Services
- Volunteering, Hiring, and Internal Best Practices
- Date:
- Thursday, September 14, 2023
- Time (MST):
- 9:00am - 4:00pm
- Time Zone:
- Arizona Time (change)
- Location:
- East Flagstaff Community Library - 3000 N. Fourth Street, Suite 5, Flagstaff, Arizona 86004
Carrie Rogers-Whitehead, author of Serving Teens and Adults on the Autism Spectrum: A Guide for Libraries and the founder of Digital Respons-Ability, a mission-based company that teaches digital citizenship to tens of thousands of parents, students, and educators across the world. Before starting Digital Respons-Ability, Carrie worked for about a decade in public libraries and was the 2013 Utah Librarian of the Year. Carrie regularly writes, speaks, and researches digital citizenship and libraries. She is the author of seven books, including her most recent for librarians Advocating Digital Citizenship: Resources for the Library and Classroom, in fall of 2022. Carrie recently released Deepening Digital Citizenship: a Guide to Systemwide Policy and Practice with International Society for Technology in Education. She is also an adjunct instructor and, in 2021 won an Outstanding Reference Source Award from the American Library Association for one of her books. She lives at home in Utah with her family.