• Back
• Home
• About
• Trainer
• Author
• Contact
Helping libraries plan for and provide services for people with disabilities is a major focus of Rubin's current work. She is currently serving her third term as chair of the ADA Assembly of the American Library Association (ALA). As chair of the Assembly's policy task force, Rhea edited the ALA policy on serving people with disabilities, adopted in January 2001.
A article on Rhea's work in Massachusetts is Shelley Quezada's "Nothing about Me Without Me: Planning for Library Services for People with Disabilities" in the January/February 2003 issue of Public Libraries.
Planning and Evaluating Services for People With Disabilities
In 2001, Rubin's Planning for Library Services for People with Disabilities was published by the Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies of ALA. The book introduces a ten-step long-range planning process that Rhea developed in 1999 for Massachusetts' libraries under a contract from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. The process has now been used successfully by many libraries in MA.
Nothing About Me...Without Me: Involving People with Disabilities in Planning Public Library Services was a multi-year initiative headed by Rhea for the California State Library, Library Development Services in 2003-2005. Twenty-eight public libraries used her planning process to develop one or more new programs. Rhea is now working with libraries in Connecticut and New York that are using her planning process to develop new services for people with disabilities.
Recent projects in this area include a 2009 planning study of the Access Services units of the Free Library of Philadelphia and 2001 study of Access News, a statewide pilot project bringing news via telephone to people with disabilities, for the Braille and Talking Book Library of California.
She did a study of state-funded library services for the blind for the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners in 1997-98 and was the consultant to the California State Library on a statewide initiative on the ADA from 1994-1996. Also in 1994, she served as the consultant for an assessment of the Access Center concept and projects in Massachusetts.
She was also the ADA consultant for Libris, an electronic product for planning library buildings.
Training on Library Services to People with Disabilities
Rhea provided training and technical assistance on the new planning process throughout California as part of a California State Library initiative during 2003 and 2004. In 2006, Rhea is providing training to libraries in Connecticut and New York that are planning new services for people with disabilities. In 1995, Rhea was also the consultant and trainer for the California State Library for a statewide series of workshops on serving people with disabilities.
In 2000 — 2001, Rhea did a series of workshops on her planning process throughout Massachusetts for the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.
Recently, she has given presentations on serving people with disabilities at the the Los Angeles chapter of the American Society of Information Science and Technology, Public Library Association, the American Library Association, and the InfoToday Conference.
Last updated 9/09