Who Are We?
We are ALSC’s Library Service to Special Population Children and Their Caregivers (LSSPCC) Committee. We are accessibility and inclusion advocates who care deeply about the needs of our entire library community, especially special population children and their caregivers.
What Do We Do?
We discover and disseminate information about what libraries have to offer these special populations. We develop and maintain guidelines for selection of useful and relevant materials. We also help prepare the next generation of librarians and library workers by creating and providing resources to serve their communities more inclusively.
What Is The LSSPCC Toolkit?
The LSSPCC Committee has worked hard to develop a brand new resource for librarians and library works to develop or enhance your knowledge about serving special populations. Launched earlier this year, this easy-to-use Toolkit for Librarians and Library Workers is available FREE online and can be downloaded or saved as a PDF file. Whether you are just getting started learning about serving special populations of children and their families or want to brush up on the latest resources, this toolkit is for you!
What Special Populations Does the Toolkit Cover?
This toolkit offers a wide variety of information about serving many different types of groups in your library community, including homeschoolers, spanish-speaking families, LGBTQ families, children with autism, children with incarcerated parents, children with print disabilities, and more. While this is by no means an exhaustive list of special populations that are served in all of our library communities, it’s a great place to start.
Why Is This Toolkit Useful?
In this toolkit, you will find a brief introduction in each section, which will provide librarians and library workers with context and background information needed before beginning to serve these groups in your community. In addition, each section has a list of subject headings and keywords that will help make catalog and online searching on this topic a lot easier. We have included short lists of subject area experts, if you are interested in connecting with people in our field and finding out more about that particular area of outreach. We have even included information about existing partnerships, which are examples of the successes some libraries have found connecting with local organizations to serve these special populations. There are numerous lists of additional print and digital resources for further learning beyond the toolkit itself.
We hope you will share this resource with your library staff. Through advocacy and awareness of various special populations, we can work together to help all children and all families feel welcome at our libraries!
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This post was written by Renee Grassi. Renee is the Youth Department Director at the Glen Ellyn Public Library in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. She is also a member of ALSC’s LSSPCC Committee. In 2012, she was recognized by Library Journal as a Mover & Shaker for her work serving children with autism and other special needs. She is also one of the co-founding members of SNAILS, a state-wide networking group in Illinois for librarians and library staff who discuss and learn about expanding library services to those with special needs. As a proud ALSC member and a former ALSC Blogger, she has written on the blog about a variety of topics related to inclusive library services.