Dean of Libraries says website will host statement after accommodation concerns
After concerns expressed by student groups regarding accusations that the library was unwilling to have an accommodation statement on its website, Dean of Libraries Thomas Moore said the library will change policy.
The concerns were started when SWA President Katelyn Blair was allegedly told by Director of Information Services Timothy Peters last year that "an accommodation for hearing-impaired students is not needed" when she inquired about adding an email to the library's accommodation statement.
When the Mio senior raised similar concerns this year, she was told Peters "didn't want an accommodation statement anywhere but perhaps in the footer of the new library website."
Richard Cochran, assistant dean of libraries, said the allegations were incorrect and said the allegations were made because of miscommunication between students and staff.
"None of the proper people were contacted," Cochran said. "The dean wasn't contacted, I wasn't contacted. The employees who would be in a position to give accurate information were never reached."
Peters agreed that the students who have raised the allegations were misinformed.
"I don't remember anyone approaching me last year about adding an email address to the accommodation statement," Peters said. "I think it's a fantastic idea, it would be easy to do, but this year is the first year I'm hearing of it."
Peters said the reason that he was in favor of the footer was because of the advantages that the footer brings.
"The advantage of putting the accommodation statement in the footer, which none of the other alternatives have, is that it would appear on every page of the website," Peters said. "That way students will always have access to it."
Peters said the library's upcoming new website would potentially have two areas supplying disabled individuals with assistance. One would likely be in the footer, while another would be in a link at the top of the page.
Moore said at no point did the library consider taking off an accommodation statement, and neither he or Peters had ever rejected the idea of adding an email address to the accommodation statement.
"The concern has always been, not whether or not we would have an accommodation statement, but how we can employ that statement where it can be most effective," Moore said. "We're considering where it would be located, what precisely it would say, and consider those questions in the context of the new website."
Moore said one of the problems with adding an email address to the accommodation statement was whether or not the library would be able to respond to inquiries in a timely manner.
"If we were to add an email address to the statement, we want an address that would allow students to get an immediate response," Moore said. "None of the email addresses we have necessarily fulfills that role. And we are still discussing how we can implement an address that would."
