Created: 7/2/02

Revised: 2/11

The Multnomah County Library's plan for serving patrons with disabilities has a threefold purpose: to affirm the library's commitment to serving all patrons, to protect the rights and safety of library patrons, and to outline what services the library offers to patrons with a disability.

Basis of the Plan

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) extends civil rights protection to people with disabilities.  Under the ADA, these rights include equal access to employment, public services and public accommodations.
The ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in places of public accommodation or in the provision of any public services. The Multnomah County Library is subject to the ADA with respect to all its facilities, collections, electronic resources, programs, services and other resources. The library will make every reasonable effort to accommodate the information needs of individuals with disabilities.

Rationale

From the US Dept. of Justice: February 2020
"To be protected by the ADA, one must have a disability or have a relationship or association with an individual with a disability. An individual with a disability is defined by the ADA as a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a person who has a history or record of such an impairment, or a person who is perceived by others as having such an impairment. The ADA does not specifically name all of the impairments that are covered."
The following Plan of Service describes the manner in which Multnomah County Library resources are deployed to most effectively serve the needs of our disabled constituents.

Plan of Service

The library continues to develop its collections, capabilities and services with the goal of improving the capacity for providing equal access.
Reference and Information Services monitors the plan's implementation and makes recommendations to the appropriate senior manager for plan of service additions or revisions. The Disability Accommodation Group scans for service and technological developments and selectively field tests and/or evaluates technological media that will equal access.

Facilities

• All library public buildings are in compliance with the ADA, making them accessible by anyone in a wheelchair or with another physical impairment.
• Permanent room identification signage includes raised and Braille letters for accessibility by anyone with a visual impairment.
  All library public buildings are accessible through electric-powered doors . Multnomah County Library will make reasonable physical accommodation to provide assistance to individuals in using library facilities and resources.

Collections

• Multnomah County Library provides collections in all public locations for people with visual impairments.  Collections include large print books, audio books, and electronic resources.

Access

• The library provides training to equip staff with a reasonable level of knowledge to enable them to conduct reference and readers' advisory interviews and help people with disabilities get the information that they need.
• The library provides access to the DVD collection for hearing-impaired library users by purchasing and circulating closed-captioned DVDs. The library provides access to its collections for people who are homebound or residents of institutions through Library Outreach Service and large print books by mail.
• The library's electronic resources are available in each library building to those patrons with visual and audio impairments.  These resources include the online catalog of the library's holdings and all electronic databases that the library purchases.  These resources are made accessible by means of screen enlargement software (Zoomtext) and screen-reading software (Jaws), with staff assistance in using these. This vendor-supplied software generally requires that the user has learned screen reading software at an intermediate level; with some databases, advance level knowledge is needed by the user. Staff is not responsible for training the user.
  The library provides information by telephone for hard-of-hearing individuals by means of TTY and participates in the statewide Oregon Telecommunications Relay Service for improved communication with Deaf, hard-of-hearing or speech-disabled people who use text telephones.
• Magnifying glasses and sheets are available at each reference desk in all library locations. For customers who need greater magnification, Central Library offers two video magnifiers for reading books, magazines and newspapers.
  With 24-hour advance notice, the library makes every effort to reasonably accommodate other physical needs for assistance in using the library's collections.
• The library has a microfilm reader/printer that connects to a PC at the Central Library.  This combination of equipment provides screen enlargement and screen-reading software for microfilmed material.
• The library follows nationally recognized guidelines for developing library web pages for people with visual disabilities.
• The library offers assistance in connecting with the library's electronic resources via the library user's home computers.  This assistance is available by means of telephone and TTY.
  Talking Book and Braille Library (through Oregon State Library) provides free library materials and services to print-disabled Oregonians.

Programs

Upon advance request, American Sign Language interpretation will be provided at Library-sponsored programs and events. A sound amplification system is available in the large meeting room at Central Library.