Universal design (UD) means that rather than designing your facility and services for the average user, you design them for people with a broad range of abilities, disabilities, and other characteristics—such as age, reading ability, learning style, language, culture, and others. This checklist provides solid examples for using UD to ensure that everyone feels welcome.
Farmer, Lesley S. J. Library Services for Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorders. ALA Editions, 2013.
Farmer's book provides strategies and resources for including youth with autism in the library facility and programs.
Gray, Carol. The New Social Story Book. Future Horizons, 2015.
Shows how to construct social stories to improve the lives of children and teens. These techniques can be applied in the library in order to allow persons with autism to be successful.
Klipper, Barbara. Programming for Children and Teens with Autism Spectrum Disorder. ALA Editions, 2014.
This book provides valuable information including background information on the disorder to help librarians understand how to program for this special audience, step-by-step programs from librarians across the country, and suggests methods for securing funding and establishing partnerships with community organizations
Lonie, Nicola. Online Safety for Teens on the Autism Spectrum: A Parent's and Carer's Guide. Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2015.
This book by a British author/parent provides coverage of computer gaming/addiction, cyberbulling, social media, hacking, and strategies for parents.
From Syracuse University, Project ENABLE provides professional development for library professionals from all types of libraries in order to build capacity for providing equitable access and services to students with disabilities, an underserved population.
Designed by a team at Florida State University, PALS has developed four online modules for librarians on how to better serve patrons on the autism spectrum.
This portal is focused on public libraries but you can customize these resources to fit your library's needs and style.
Select Citation Style:
MLA Citation
Everhart, Nancy. "Annotated Bibliography." School Library Connection, April 2016, schoollibraryconnection.com/home/display/2015850?learningModuleId=2015850&topicCenterId=2158571.
Chicago Citation
Everhart, Nancy. "Annotated Bibliography." School Library Connection, April 2016. https://schoollibraryconnection.com/home/display/2015850?learningModuleId=2015850&topicCenterId=2158571.
APA Citation
Everhart, N. (2016, April). Annotated bibliography. School Library Connection. https://schoollibraryconnection.com/home/display/2015850?learningModuleId=2015850&topicCenterId=2158571