 Hi, I'm going to tell you today about the accessibility toolkits that we have at each of our libraries and at each of the reference desks in the main library. You've had these for a while and I understand that some people have never opened them and played with what's inside, so I'm going to invite you to do that, but I'll show you what they are today. One thing at each, another thing at each of our desks is a sign like this. This went out with the toolkits and it's something really important for you to remember. This tells about all of the accommodations, or many of the accommodations that we offer for people with disabilities in our libraries. Some of these icons may be mysterious to you, so use the binder that came in your toolkit and inside you will see explanations of what each of those icons means and how to help people get to the services that they offer. I also want to point out that in this notebook there is a section about all the tools in the toolkit, so you may refer to this or you may want to look at our staff net page to get more information. Another thing at each of our branches and on each floor in the main library are large print keyboards. These are good for people with vision impairments as well as those who have learning disabilities, and each of the keyboards or each of the computers with the keyboard should have a sign like this attached. You also have a second sign for your your public service desk that invites people to ask for them. I have more of these keyboards, so if yours is wearing out or missing please let me know and we can replace it. Also for people with vision impairments or learning disabilities you'll find a variety of magnifiers. There's a full page magnifier and a conventional handheld magnifier that many people will feel comfortable using. Finally, many people love this dome magnifier. This lays right on the page and it gathers light and makes it really easier for people to read as they move it across the page. A couple of things you may not be as familiar with are these two guides. This one with many lines on it is a reading or writing guide that helps people again people with vision impairments, people with learning disabilities to keep their place on a page as they read. I understand that these are being used and I'm very happy about that. This is the smaller credit card size piece is a signature guide so if you have people filling out forms, library card applications or other things for which you need their signature they lay this on the page and it helps them keep their signature in the right spot. One thing that may be a little mysterious is something that just looks like a conventional felt tip pen. This is called a 2020 easy to read pen and it's great because it writes in very bold characters and it doesn't bleed through paper and it doesn't have any scent. This is very good if you are making note of call numbers or writing information for people who have vision impairments or people with learning disabilities. The final thing specifically for people with vision impairments is this large type ruler. It also it has large characters, it's tactile, it has spray, so it's a very cool tool. You may wonder why I have some of these things that we don't usually have at public service desks. When I was considering putting together these accessibility toolkits I asked people with disabilities and occupational therapists and other librarians what would be useful in public libraries and so that's how we ended up with this variety of tools. Another thing in your toolkit are these pencil grips. There are two large and two small ones. These may seem a little mysterious too but for people who have trouble really holding a pen or manipulating it this makes it comfortable for them to use writing tools. One great use for these happened in our San Francisco History Center when somebody came in with their own large grip pen and they were told that they were not permitted to use it in the San Francisco History Center because we're protecting our materials. Staff up there called me and asked what they might do. I suggested they go to the toolkit. They pulled out a pencil grip, put it on a pencil and wrote to me later saying that the researcher was able to do everything they needed to do using a pencil. This bookholder was recommended by occupational therapists and I've had a couple of people who have dexterity disabilities, mobility disabilities say it's really useful for them when they are reading for a long time. As you can see it can hold a wide and thin book. It has pins on it that can be adjusted so that it can hold all sizes of books. For example this very fat dictionary can also sit on here and you just show people how to insert the pins so that the pages will stay open and they can use the book. The final tool in the toolkit is one that is a little more complicated and techy but it is great. This tool is called a pocket talker and it's a one-to-one assistive listening device that's useful for people with hearing impairments. So if you have somebody who comes to the desk and they're shouting at you to be understood or you feel that you need to talk slowly and clearly to them to be understood I would suggest you offer use of the pocket talker. This is a microphone and you would hold this and offer to people the headset. This is a conventional headset and I want you to note that there are replaceable covers on the headphones and there are more of them in your kit and if you run out of those I have some to replace them so offer the headset. If someone has a hearing aid they may have a switch on it called a telephone switch and with this this is called a necklace loop. They put this around their neck actually the person puts it around their neck again you talk to them and it amplifies directly to their hearing aid. If you feel a little awkward being this close to someone there's also a quite long cord here that attaches both to the microphone and to whatever headset the person is using so you can have some distance to walk to the shelves or talk to them with a little more space between you. One more thing that's important to know about the pocket talker is that you have to be very careful about the volume so please you'll turn it on but don't turn up the volume for the user. Allow them to turn it up to a level that's comfortable for them. That'll be take a little give and take. Why do we have all these tools? We have them so that people will have a better experience using our libraries plain and simple but I have found that some of these tools people like some of these tools so much that they go out and get them for themselves. For example people like the pocket talker so much that they ask about getting their own so that they can take it with them to the doctor's office or a restaurant so that they can sit and talk with their families more comfortably at a table. So this is a wonderful tool that that people love to use and about these dome magnifiers actually after someone came and experimented with using one of these at the library she came back later and told me that she had bought them for several of her friends for Christmas. So I hope you'll enjoy using them and I hope you'll enjoy encouraging our users to use them. If you have any questions about what's in these toolkits or any suggestions about what else might be useful you can contact me at marty.gotter that's m-a-r-t-i dot g-o-d-d-a-r-d at sfpl.org or call me anytime at 415-557-4557 thank you