Marketing Sensory Storytimes to Ensure Autism Inclusion

***BEFORE YOU REGISTER FOR THIS WEBINAR PLEASE REVIEW IMPORTANT REGISTRATION INFORMATION BELOW***

Sensory storytimes: most of us know the term, and many public libraries in the United States now offer them. These adaptive storytimes are typically inclusive of all, but particularly welcoming for autistic children, allowing valuable opportunities to play, learn, and build connections in a supportive environment. As librarians, many of us understand “sensory storytimes” to be especially designed for autistic children. But, do parents and caregivers have that same understanding? If it is not clearly outlined, this messaging—along with our target participant group—may be missed. 

Results from a recent study suggest that even with careful consideration of event details, our messaging may miss the mark, leaving out potential participants who would benefit from these storytimes. In this webinar, we’ll briefly discuss best practices in delivering sensory storytimes; then, we’ll focus on messaging, examining common errors to avoid, and providing examples of messaging that ensures autistic children and their families feel invited and included even before they enter the library. 

  

Topics that we will explore include what language to use to refer to your target audience, how to handle and describe registration, and what details to share about the program itself. Meeting your unique community’s needs is critical, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach. While we will talk through some ideas that work for others, we will also allow plenty of time for discussion for participants to explore and identify practices that best suit their own library’s needs.

Learning Outcomes

At the conclusion of this webinar, participants will be able to:

• Understand the need for autism-community input in designing and describing sensory storytimes;
• Evaluate common mistakes in sensory storytime marketing approaches, identifying strategies for improvement; and
• Create a public-facing description of their own library’s sensory storytime program that specifically welcomes autistic children and their families or caregivers.

Who Should Attend

This webinar is intended for children’s and youth librarians, program planning librarians, and librarians who develop marketing materials. However, all public library staff will benefit, as autistic children and their families or caregivers must feel welcome at all stages of program attendance, from reading about the program online, to entering a library's doors, to attending the storytime itself. 

Panelists

Dr. Amelia Anderson is an assistant professor of library science at The University of South Florida’s School of Information. Dr. Anderson is the author of Library Programming for Autistic Children and Teens, 2nd Edition, published by ALA Editions, and she received the 2024 ALISE/Connie Van Fleet Award for Research Excellence in Public Library Services to Adults. She recently served as the managing principal investigator on the IMLS planning grant Accessibility in Making (LG-246292-OLS-20), which identified opportunities in public library makerspaces for patrons with disabilities. She has extensive experience on the topics of neurodiversity, disability, and libraries through her work as a public librarian, library researcher, and educator. She earned her Ph.D. and MLIS from Florida State University, and she previously worked as a librarian for the Orange County Library System and the Hernando County Public Library. 

Important Registration Information

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Accommodations

This live webinar will be captioned in English (United States). Zoom desktop client or mobile app is required to access captions.

Attendees using screen readers are advised to turn off speech prior to joining the Zoom event because PLA webinars make extensive use of chat functionality. Attendees who find chat distracting may wish to disable it in the Zoom event, as PLA moderators will verbally highlight important topics raised in chat and chat transcripts will be provided post-webinar.

If you have a physical or communication need that may affect your participation in this webinar, please contact us at plawebinars@ala.org or 800-545-2433 ext. 5PLA (5752) at least two weeks prior to the webinar. Without prior notification of need, we may not be able to provide appropriate accommodations for the live event.

Archived Recording

If you're unable to attend this live webinar, an archived recording will be available to all registrants typically within 1–3 business of the live event. Access to closed captions will be provided in the webinar recording.

Tech Requirements

This webinar will be presented using the Zoom platform. Please review Zoom technical requirements and support information, and test your connection.

Once you've joined the webinar, there are two ways to connect your audio: via computer (VoIP) or via telephone. No microphone is required. PLA works with its webinar platform provider to assure the highest quality audio is being delivered to attendees. However, variables over which PLA has no control—such as the speed of your Internet connection or traffic on your local network—can affect the end quality of the webinar audio delivered by your computer. Each webinar’s audio is also available by telephone via a toll number, so we recommend you have access to a long-distance enabled phone as a backup in case you experience audio issues with VoIP. If you do encounter any problems during the webinar, you will receive a link to its archived recording within a week of the live event and can review anything you missed.

Contact

This webinar is presented by the Public Library Association (PLA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA).

Questions about this webinar? Please contact us at plawebinars@ala.org or 800-545-2433 ext. 5PLA (5752).