HUMPHREY TOWNSHIP PUBLIC LIBRARY'S ACCESSIBILITY COMMITTEE wishes to thank all those involved with the creation of the PORTABLE SATELLITE LIBRARY UNIT for their help in transforming its idea into a reality. This help made the project the success it was. SPECIAL THANKS TO: Ruth Smith CEO Humphrey Public Library The Humphrey Twp. Public Library Board Peter Marsh Council Representative Stephen Wohleber Planning Designer John Triemstra Jr. Custom Builder Donna Besman Clerk Twp. of Humphrey Dexter Nickerson and his Staff Twp. of Humphrey Community Centre Tom Cosgrove/Reg Heal Consultants Fran Valentini OLS North Consultant and to all the family members of those who donated much of their time to help Humphrey Satellite Branch Unit Patricia Coles, Assistant librarian On June 4th, 1993, the Humphrey Township Public Library held the grand opening of its "Satellite Branch Unit". This unit was established because of the fact that the Humphrey Library is in the basement of the Township building and is accessible only by climbing a fight of stairs to reach the main doors and then going down two flights of stairs to the Library. It is not accessible to the physically challenged, or mothers with children in strollers, and is difficult for seniors. We are located in the centre of the community with heavy use from the public school and families. Although Humphrey Public Library provides a shut-in service and we are not at this time in a financial position to move out of the building, we wanted all our patrons to be able to come to the library. The interim solution was to provide library service in an accessible facility. In cooperation with the Municipality and the Humphrey Township Community Centre, the Satellite Unit evolved. In conjunction with National Access Awareness Week, the ribbon cutting was held Friday afternoon. The unit was designed by CEO, Ruth Smith, and the accessibility committee of the Humphrey Public Library. After many hours of searching and reviewing acccss material, they took their ideas to Mr. Stephen Wohleber of Britt who then drew blueprints for the unit. After this was done, the design became a reality built by Mr. John Triemstra Jr., a local builder. This is apparently the first unit of its kind anywhere in Ontario. The moveable branch holds large print fiction and non-fiction, oversized non-fiction, videos, talking books, magazines, junior fiction and non-fiction, adult paperbacks and hardcover fiction and Former MP Stan Darling opens satellite last June PARRY SOUND Wednesday, December 29,1993 Humphrey portable library wins award HUMPHREY— On Nov. 3, at a gala in the IMAX Theatre in Niagara Falls, on behalf of Ruth Smith, CEO, and the Board of the Humphrey Public Library, board members Jo Anne Bond and township council representative Peter Marsh accepted the highly distinguished Minister's Award for Innovation from Culture, Tourism and Recreation Minister Anne Swarbrick, for the province of Ontario. The Innovative Librarianship Awards Program was established in 1985 by the Ministry of Culture and Communications to identify and promote creative public library service ideas in Ontario. In 1993, this program was broadened to include the Minister's Award for Innovation and the Angus Mowat Award of Excellence and was given its new name of Public Library Service Awards. The Minister's Award is given to public libraries for projects with concepts or approaches previously untried in public libraries which are successful and of continuing value to public library development. Within the province wide library community, this award is looked upon with great respect and is held as one of the most prestigious awards presented to public libraries. Submissions for this award continued on page 5 Humphrey wins award continued from page 1 are made to the Libraries and Community Information Branch of the ministry through a timeline or schedule of events adequately describing the project in a 20-30 page document. This year a record 19 projects were submitted and although the jury was impressed by each project, it reached a unanimous decision to choose Humphrey Township Public Library as the 1993 recipient for its Portable Satellite Unit project. The library won the award for achieving its goal of accessibility by developing a completely new and handicapped-accessible portable satellite library branch which is situated in the foyer of the Humphrey Township Community Centre. This satellite branch is an ingeniously-designed unit on wheels which unfolds to become a mini on-the-spot library complete with a circulation area, desk and typewriter, lighting, signs and access to the holdings of all resource libraries in the Ontario Library Service North Region through a microfiche reader located in a space adaptable for a laptop computer. This satellite unit is a double 6' x 2.5' x 5' wooden box structure on wheels constructed of high grade clear maple vaneer plywood stained and painted, supporting a community bulletin board and display area on the outside when it is closed. When opened out to an L-shaped layout, a desk unlocks and folds down and the wooden box is transformed into a a vibrant community service unleashing the passion, mysteries, excitement and myriads of information available to us through the public library. Situated inside the unit are moveable shelves housing books, videos, talking books, large print materials, adult and juvenile paperbacks, a portable children's picture book display unit, a special events display area, periodicals and some reference tools. The staff work area is also used to circulate the materials and there is public access to the fiche reader. The unit is the library's interim solution to addressing its accessibility difficulties into the library. The library is located in the lower level of the municipal building and accessible only by stairs. The library board believed it was necessary to make the library collection available to its physically challenged and mature users, parents with young children in strollers and to temporarily challenged people. Ideas of constructing an elevator or ramps were abandoned due to uncontrollable factors, so the board's accessibility committee determined what was necessary to provide this service. When it was discovered there was no unit such as this available for purchase anywhere in North America, the committee decided to design and build one. The satellite library is unique in that it not only perform the library funciton, but it is designed to accommodate a physically challenged person from both the employee and patron perspective. Specification requirements for wheelchair moveability and approach to a workspace were considered. Correct proportion for shelving height, reach and visibility were addressed and cupboard's are built to ensure ease of access to those without the use of their hands.