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2019 Midland/Northern Conference
Dates: April 8 - 10, 2019
Conference Location: The New York Public Library’s flagship research library: the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building at 476 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10018 (between 40th-42nd streets, but enter on 42nd street just west of 5th avenue towards 6th avenue, on the south side of the street)
Registration charge: will be $100 for the full conference, or $50 for a one-day pass. If this is prohibitive though contact Jill. Payment can be made by check or credit card. Make checks out to: Midlands Conference of Librarians and mail to Scott Norris, Braille and Talking Book Library, 702 W. Kalamazoo St. P.O. Box 30007 Lansing, MI 48909. Or pay by credit card at this link: https://www.showclix.com/event/nlsconf2019
Be sure to also fill out your information at the Registration link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSchixUuGf72AVvmM5iXSG0-Z-yZBH0tlHQhM2vtuQzcHSVCvw/viewform?usp=sf_link
Hotel information: We will be booking a small group block at the wonderful Dewey-decimal-themed Library Hotel, which is just one short block away from the conference location. It's a really good price for this kind of hotel and includes a lot of your food and coffee needs.
FREE amenities for our group include: daily continental breakfast buffet, coffee and snacks throughout the day in the lounge, wine and cheese reception in the afternoon-evenings, WiFi, passes to NY Sports Club, use of indoor/outdoor rooftop lounge and reading den until 4pm (when it turns into a cocktail bar), business area with computers and printing. And of course we will work with them on accessibility, braille menus, etc etc.
We will be able to get 10 petit rooms at $260 / night plus taxes, and 5 queen rooms at $306/night plus taxes. The petit rooms are small but lovely – with just enough room to walk around the double bed, plus a closet and mini-fridge and a tub-shower combo in the bathroom.
The queen rooms are slightly bigger and have a chair and a larger bathroom, and are the tier for ADA rooms. You can find photos on the website and you can ask me if you have questions.
RESERVATION PROCEDURE (CALL IN PROCEDURE): Individual guests may contact the hotel to reserve their rooms with a major credit card. Reservations may be made by phone (212) 204 – 5408 or e-mail Joel@LibraryHotel.com. Guests must specify that they wish to reserve a room from the New York Public Library block in order to receive the special discounted group rate. The room block will be held until 12:00PM EST on Saturday, March 09, 2019. After the cutoff date, any rooms not reserved by name with a credit card will be released back to the reservations department for sale to the general public.
OR, option 2 for if the rooms are sold out, is DIY: There are so many hotels around this area. Book online at Booking.com or any hotel consolidator of your choice. Many offer free cancellation and good rates if you book now. Note there will be no shuttle service but we’re a very walkable city and have buses running up 6th avenue and down 5th avenue, and hundreds of Via ride shares. You can search for hotels near Times Square (which is two blocks West of the Library). Blocks between numbers (ie 37th street to 38th street) are very short.
Or Google “hotels near the Stephen A. Schwarzman building” and a map will come up showing prices, and letting you choose dates to search for (currently, the “Americana Inn” (4 blocks away)is showing $197/night and Dylan Hotel (1.5 blocks away) is showing $222/ night, and Marriott Vacation Club Pulse (4 blocks away) is showing $207/night. Note that I don’t know anything about hotels other than the one we’re getting a block at, but you can check ratings and websites)
Rough Draft of Agenda:
Monday April 8th: Trustees Room 8:30am - 5:30pm
8:30 Coffee and snacks 9:00 Welcome! 9:30 Roll Call! 10:00 Assistive Technology 11:00 Updates from NLS: part 1 12:00 Lunch on your own 1:30 Tools for Great readers advisory 2:30 Pittsburgh's presentation on Duplication on Demand 3:00 Youth services: new pathways to access 3:45 Break and snack 4:00 NFB Newsline updates (w Alexa) 4:15 Afternoon think tank choices
Digital AccessibilityRedistributing staffing - new models, daily schedules, division of tasks. Working with patrons with multiple disabilities What to do about all those studio-produced analog cassettes? A philosophical and practical talk 5:30 possible evening visit to Metropolitan museum for touch tour and verbal description
Tuesday April 9th: Trustees Room, 8:30am - 5:30pm 8:30 am Coffee and snacks 9:00 Morning think tanks Topics: Being an accessibility advocate in your larger institution and training staff in disability awareness Diversity and underserved populations Troubleshooting with the USPS 9:45 Share-out 10:00 Panel Q&A: Duplication on Demand models, step-by-steps, and checklists 11:15 Updates from NLS part 2 12:15 - updates from Perkins Braille Display Pilot 12:30 Lunch on your own 2:00 Head down together to visit to the Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library 2:30 Workshop on using 2d and 3d tactile for visual and spatial literacies and running accessible arts and cultural programs, 3:30 Choose: Audio Description training for images, art/illustration, and video Circulation open discussion - amnesty, overdues, increasing circ, etc From Page to Player: Creating a Digital Talking Book - in 4 parts Open lab time for tactiles creation and personal help 4:30 Possible private touch / verbal description tour of lower east side tenement museum
Wednesday April 10th: Trustees Room, 207, South Court, 8:30am - 5:30pm 8:30 Coffee and snacks 9:00 Keynote 2 - Adam Linn 9:45 think tank choices: Creating and running braille study groups Early and pre-literacy skills and activities for children who are blind or low vision Summer Reading and Bookclubs - participation/retention, awards, etc Let’s talk even more about duplication on demand 11:00 Share-out 11:30 ILS breakout sessions 12:30 Lunch on your own 2:00 Spark Talks 2:15 Karen’s Town hall and Marrakesh discussion 3:00 Regional Conference meetings 4:00 Closing remarks
NYC Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities Guide to Accessible Recreation and Culture in NYC https://www1.nyc.gov/site/mopd/resources/recreation-culture.page