Part 8: In-Class Demonstrations

About
This project for the University of Alabama's course "CIS-650: Diversity Leadership in Information Organizations" is a review of public library outreach to the patrons living with disabilities of the United States, and ways in which the High Plains Library District of northern Colorado addresses this community's needs. I am Greg Mahaffey, an employee at two of HPLD's member libraries. This page focuses on my in-class presentation of an article of required reading and my closing thoughts after presenting my nearly-finished e-Portfolio to my peers.
Guided Literature Review
Each student of CIS-650 was required to lead a thirty minutes class discussion about a topic relevant to our field of study. As my provisional diagnosis for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder was my motivation to focus on patrons with disabilities, I chose a study coauthored by Mehra and Douglass (2016) that focused on families of children with ADHD with respect to public libraries, which mirrored my community of practice. This study stressed the importance of coordinating with various domains of authority to engineer complex solutions to complex issues and also to avoid scapegoating one particular organization or system for barriers. The paper's identification of these domains of authority (e.g.: medical and academic professionals) also serves as a helpful template for resources libraries can advertise for patrons with other disabilities beyond ADHD.
In-Class e-Portfolio Preview
Our course concluded with a virtual walk-through of our respective projects with our peers. I provided highlights of the research I conducted over the course of this semester and the conversations I was able to have with Elena Rosenfeld. The need to improve our accessibility is visible, and the motivation for the High Plains Library District to achieve compliance with state law is a powerful incentive that has our shareholders open to change. Being an entry-level employee at a member library was initially perceived as a limitation to this project, but Elena responded to me after I submitted an online patron query, and my director and assistant director's support provided many in-roads to get an insider perspective of HPLD's progress. I also learned valuable insight not just from the efforts of public libraries, but from academic libraries and the Library of Congress. The barriers faced by people with disabilities are not isolated to our website, but are reflective of an ableist society that to this day adheres to outdated medical models of disability. Lawsuits of accessibility aren't simply restricted to the government. Domino's lost a lawsuit because their website was not accessible by patrons with visual impairments using screen readers (Raymond et al, 2024). Though our scopes may differ, we benefit from studying accessibility in all sectors of life so that we may all provide an optimal experience to future users and avoid the punitive correction of a lawsuit. Just as solving the needs of families with ADHD members requires coordination with medical, legal, and academic professionals, so too must librarians, programmers, and outsider disability advocates work together to reach informed, evidence-based solutions to meet every user's needs.
I would like to thank Dr. Mehra for his valuable insight on librarianship and accessibility, Elena Rosenfield for her prompt response to my inquiries on this subject, and my director Naomi Nguyen and assistant director Derek Werner for their interest and advice over the course of this project.
Sources Cited
Raymond, M. A., Smith, H., Carlson, L., & Gupta, A. (2024). An Examination of Digital Accessibility Within Social Media Platforms: Problems for Vulnerable Consumers and Policy Implications. Journal of Advertising Research (Taylor & Francis), 64(4), 430–450. https://doi.org/10.2501/JAR-2024-026
PowerPoint Slides for Guided Literature Review
A Four Frames Analysis to Address the Information Challenges of Families of Children with ADHD: Actions for Public Libraries to Address Embedded Power Imbalances. Kimberly Douglass and Bharat Mehra. Greg Mahaffey. CIS-650 Diversity Outreach in Information Organizations. University of Alabama: School of Library and Information Studies. Dr. Bharat Mehra. April 1, 2025
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Manifests as Difficulty with attention and focus, hinders carrying out tasks, and hyperactive or impulsive behavior. These symptoms impact the family as much as the individual; parents and siblings all suffer from inadequate management. However, social models of disability would argue these negative outcomes are caused by equity barriers, not the symptoms (Sherman, 2022). Library services can help lift these barriers by improving information access
Four Frames Analytical Theory. Proposed by Bolman and Deal in 2013 (2021). Holistic approach to equity challenges; review issues through multiple frames to identify the cause. Prevents attributing all problems on a single factor.
Four Frames Analytical Theory, continued. Structural Frame: The domain of guidelines, strategy, and planning. Political Frame: the domain of competition, negotiation, and directions of power. Human resource frame: the domain of personal well-being, mutual gain, and transparency. Symbolic frame: the domain of storytelling, identity, and relation.
Sources of power. Research framework: Literature review. Douglass and Mehra reviewed existing literature to categorize issues of families of children with ADHD by sources of power. Domains where families of ADHD children can manage their situation. When families are properly informed, these domains are a source of strength. When there are unmet information needs, these domains become complications or barriers.
Sources of Power, continued. Table 1: Sources of power involved in information needs of families of children with ADHD.
Application of the Four Frames. Structural framework: provide access to medical resources and promote medical literacy. Political framework: teach self-advocacy to reclaim power and criticize problematic stakeholders. Human resource framework: divert families from harmful networks to helpful networks and highlight service resources. Symbolic framework: reframe the narrative and destigmatize ADHD among other stakeholders.
Concrete actions: Table 1 from cited article: Specific examples of information libraries can provide families of children with ADHD for shared decision making, as suggested by the "Four Frames" analysis.
Study Strengths. Definitive actions to improve quality of life among families of children with ADHD. Holistic, system-based approach that avoids any single aspect or stakeholder. Social model of disability maintains the dignity of children with ADHD; encourages striving for solutions. Solutions are valuable for parents of children with other neurodivergent conditions.
Study weaknesses. Not all libraries/librarians may have the means to acquire resources (time, budget barriers). District-wide resources and consortiums may help pool resources together. Other stakeholders would benefit from more concrete guidance. Parents are the final say but experts can help them correct course. Organizing discussion around domains (education, judicial/legal, etc. may be easier to understand than organizing it around sources of power.
Discussion Questions. 1. How can libraries advocate for adults who were undiagnosed with ADHD as children? 2. What advice can librarians give teachers and medical experts when parents are influenced by small world groups? 3. What resources can local government provide to libraries with limited budget and personnel? 4. Do true stories or fiction with representation impact symbolic reframing more?
Similarities with/Distinctions from Readings. Similarities: Coordination with more local resources must be a priority and requires moving past stigmas of mental health and disability for success. Distinctions: Resources centered approach as opposed to programming.
Application in Personal Project: The High Plains Library District lacks human resource tools for patrons with disabilities. Opportunity to evaluate our collection of material relevant to disabilities (structural and symbolic frames). Make decisions on how to proceed as a team (EDI committee) just as families of children with ADHD must exercise cross-boundary advocacy.
End of Presentation. Sources Cited page.
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