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I will never forget Barack Obama's keynote speech at the 2005 American Library Association Annual Conference. Speaking as a US senator from Illinois, Obama called librarians like me "Guardians of truth and knowledge" for our role as "champions of privacy, literacy, independent thinking, and most of all, reading." I love being a librarian! For over 30 years I have held a passionate, lifelong interest in promoting information about the language, culture, and achievements of deaf individuals. A retired librarian for the deaf community from the DC Public Library, I am the founding president of the Friends of Libraries for Deaf Action. I also volunteer with the National Literary Society of the Deaf (NLSD) in its effort to promote
deaf culture, books and literacy through library programs and exhibits. NLSD is a reading promotion partner of the Center for the Book, at the Library of Congress. In March, this year, NLSD established a national reading promotion project, "Deaf America Reads 2008-2010", inviting the nation's public libraries, deaf organizations and library friends to participate. The change that I want to see is growing public recognition of American Sign Language (ASL), deaf culture and history, through library programs, book discussion groups and future proclamation of "Deaf History Month" by the US president. I want deaf people in all walks of life - including those who are blind, non-English-speaking, or are shut-ins - to gain access to public library services. Library staff should be trained to communicate in ASL, or to use auxiliary communication aids when serving their deaf customers.
A suggestion: "Build" an "American Sign Language and Deaf Accessibility Library," providing accessibility and resources through local public libraries in DC, the 50 states, two commonwealths and three territories. The result: Deaf people will have freedom to express themselves in their language, as bilingual citizens (fluent in ASL and English), empowering them to open long-denied doors of opportunity.
Alice Hagemeyer
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