Geelong Regional Library Corporation

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The Geelong Regional Library Corporation provides library and information services to residents and visitors across the Geelong region on behalf of the four member councils: Borough of Queenscliffe, City of Greater Geelong, Golden Plains Shire and Surf Coast Shire.

ACCESSIBLE INFORMATION

They are dedicated to providing easy access to resources and services that are inclusive and that respect the community’s diversity. They demonstrate a strong commitment to accessibility across all of the branches and the Geelong Library & Heritage Centre has been carefully designed to increase accessibility for the community in numerous ways.

Adaptive technology plays a role in enabling access. The height of the Cruiser tables (large touch screen tables) at the Geelong Library & Heritage Centre makes them accessible for people in wheelchairs and allows collaborators to work around a shared surface and discover information intuitively. The TAPits are touch screen computers designed to recognise the difference between intentional instructions and unintentional touch. The TAPit platform is within reach for people in wheelchairs or with other mobility devices and it is easily adjusted to people’s individual requirements.

Other accessibility features include:

• Magnification technology is available for people with visual impairments. The text to voice ‘Read Easy Move’ device can assist people who find reading with a video magnifier difficult.
• iPads are available for loan and have various inbuilt accessibility features.
• Zoomtext screen reader software installed on a dedicated PC on level 2.
• DAISY players (digital talking book formats) are also available.
• The VCE collection provides (where available) the print book, audiobook and DVD to cater to different learning styles.
• We house a collection of books which have features like tinted pages to reduce visual stress and a font to help minimise barriers to comprehension for people with dyslexia.
• The collection includes downloadable ebooks and eAudiobooks and Overdrive has an extra feature which can be enabled to assist people with dyslexia.
• Physical Large Print and Audiobooks are also available.
• Some online databases have closed captioning on videos, page translation to other languages, read aloud function and the ability to increase the text size.
• The website is built to comply with the WCAG 2.0 standards and uses a range of mark-up, visual contrast and structuring techniques to enhance accessibility.

PHYSICAL ACCESSIBILITY WITHIN THE BUILDING

The Dome is accessible for people of all abilities as a result of extensive consultation with Geelong’s Disability Advisory Committee.

Access to the building is available through large double doors at the main street entrance and a new ramp and pathways have been constructed at the park-side entrance to allow for access for all abilities from Johnstone Park. The building is serviced by two large elevators and there is a hand railing on the stairwell which leads up through the 5 public levels. The corridors are wide and the rooms are spacious with plenty of room for access and movement throughout.

The building has an accessible toilet and shower with a hoist available on the ground floor. Ambulant toilets are available on every level.

On the level 5 events space, customers with hearing aids can switch on ‘T’ (Telecoil) mode and tune into any amplified source in the room’s inbuilt AV. The same system is available in the Level 2 Meeting Room, the Heritage Reading Room presentation space and the Boardroom.

There is also a hearing loop set that allows people to listen to the PA broadcasts. There is a large video wall news lounge on the ground floor. Teletext for the hearing impaired and the Flexicast Listen App for the visually impaired are both available in the news lounge.

Wayfinding signage is available in Braille and digital wayfinding kiosks are at an accessible height. Self checkout computers are at an accessible height for users in wheelchairs as are catalogue PCs. There is also a wheelchair accessible microfilm/fiche scanner in the Heritage Reading Room.

They are able to provide an Auslan interpreter for prebooked tours and they also use the National Relay Service.