Session Details:  This presentation will review the state of the field for a new educational phenomenon that offers libraries new access to patrons with intellectual disability (ID). Post-Secondary Education (PSE) offers non-degreed college programs to these patrons, giving academic libraries new opportunities to serve this historically neglected group. The presentation summarizes the results of a nationwide survey of collaborations between academic libraries and their PSEs with specific examples and recommendations from case studies.

Presenters:  

Leah Plocharczyk, Florida Atlantic University Libraries

Leah Plocharczyk is a University Librarian and the Director of the John D. MacArthur Campus Library at Florida Atlantic University’s Jupiter campus where she oversees all aspects of the library’s operation.  She is active in mentoring students, as well as leadership and library outreach. Her publications include articles on library collaboration with marine mammal stranding networks and conflict management within libraries.   She co-authored a book about the importance of library book clubs as educational tools for adults with intellectual disabilities titled, Libraries and Reading: Intellectual Disability and the Extent of Library Diversity.  Ms. Plocharczyk’s interests include providing literacy and socialization opportunities to underserved and marginalized populations. 

Matthew Conner, University of California at Davis 

Matthew Conner has an M.L.S., an M.A. and a Ph.D. in English.He is the author of The New University Library: 4 Case Studies (ALA, 2014) and co-author of Libraries and Reading: Intellectual Disability and the Extent of Library Diversity(Emerald, 2020).  He is also former President of the Librarians Association of the University of California (LAUC). Currently, he works as Student Services Librarian at the University of California, Davis, where he is the subject liaison for the University Writing Program (UWP).

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