ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 13, Number 7 February 10, 2004 In This Issue: New OITP Web Tutorial: Accessibility Basics for Librarians Here's another educational service from ALA's Office for Information Technology Policy. Read on! It's FREE for ALA members. "Accessibility Basics for Librarians" March 15 through June 18, 2004 the Office for Information Technology Policy of the American Library Association will host an online e-mail tutorial on accessibility of library materials and services for people with disabilities. Similar in format to the successful privacy, copyright, UCITA and licensing tutorials offered in past years, the accessibility tutorial will examine aspects of accessibility for library professionals in 20-25 brief but informative messages written by Jessica Brodey, Senior Policy Counsel for Leslie Harris & Associates, in collaboration with OITP staff. Jessica has worked with the Technology, Education, and Accessible Media (TEAM) Coalition, comprised of disability rights groups, educational organizations, and technology companies working to increase students' with disabilities access to educational technology. In addition to an overview of relevant law, the tutorial will help librarians understand how to deal with barriers to access to library materials, computers, websites and systems. It will also provide guidance to libraries on how to maximize accessibility for patrons with disabilities, and identify best practices for ensuring that library policies are compliant with existing law. The tutorial course is FREE to ALA members, and signing up is easy. If you are an ALA member, e-mail your member number to Kathy Mitchell at kmitchell@alawash.org with the subject line TUTORIAL. You will be subscribed to the list and within a few days you will receive an automated welcome message. Non-ALA members can also receive the tutorial by sending a $30 check or money order made out to the American Library Association. Please include your e-mail address with your check so we can subscribe you. Send the check to: American Library Association Office for Information Technology Policy 1301 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Suite 403 Washington, DC 20004 Attn: Kathy Mitchell All subscribers will receive their first tutorial message on March 15. You can read your messages when they arrive or save them for later, but we recommend reading the messages in the order in which they are received. Please note the email tutorial is one-way communication and you will not be able to post to a discussion list. For more information, contact Kathy Mitchell at kmitchell@alawash.org with the subject line TUTORIAL or call ALA's Washington Office, (800) 941-8478. ****** ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. To subscribe to ALAWON, send the message: subscribe ala-wo [your_firstname] [your_lastname] to listproc@ala.org or go to http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. To unsubscribe to ALAWON, send the message: unsubscribe ala-wo to listproc@ala.org. ALAWON archives at http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. ALA Washington Office, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Suite 403, Washington, D.C. 20004-1701; phone: 202.628.8410 or 800.941.8478 toll-free; fax: 202.628.8419; e-mail: alawash@alawash.org; Web site: http://www.ala.org/washoff. Executive Director: Emily Sheketoff. Office of Government Relations: Lynne Bradley, Director; Camille Bowman, Don Essex, Patrice McDermott and Miriam Nisbet. Office for Information Technology Policy: Rick Weingarten, Director; Carrie Lowe, Kathy Mitchell, Carrie Russell. ALAWON Editor: Bernadette Murphy.