Key Notes Blog

Bringing you weekly posts on conference planning, happenings at Keystone, or how better to put KLAS to work for you!

Keystone, KLAS, & Accessibility

Details: Category: Key Notes; Last Updated: Tuesday, 05 June 2018 21:04; Published: Tuesday, 05 June 2018 20:08; Written by Andrea Callicutt

BrailleDisplay

Easy access to all features and functions within KLAS has been integral to all phases of the design process since the first version of KLAS, and continues through our ongoing work developing the next generation of the program.

From our first library customer, North Carolina Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Keystone has had a commitment to develop library software and provide support services for all of our users. Now that KLAS is installed and being used by nearly 2/3 of the network libraries that are part of the Library of Congress' National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped as well as a number of Instructional Resource / Materials Centers, we have a multitude of staff (as well as public catalog users) performing a multitude of tasks and requiring varying levels and types of accessibility. To help support the needs of our users, Keystone offers some different support and services. Examples include:

Keyboard shortcut access to KLAS
Testing and troubleshooting of assistive technology software in conjunction with KLAS
Customized accessibility training for the workflow and AT used by a specific staff member
Keeping accessibility in the forefront of design as we move toward the next generation of KLAS

Training Support

Details: Category: Key Notes; Last Updated: Tuesday, 29 May 2018 16:16; Published: Tuesday, 29 May 2018 16:16; Written by Katy Patrick

How are you training your new staff to use KLAS—and how can we help?

We will continue to post Key Note blog posts and weekly tips, tricks, and questions on the discussion forum, and we hope these posts will be both a resource for you and a jumping-off point for you to share and collaborate on resources and methods with each other. But there’s more coming!

I have a lot of ideas about different materials and resources that I could create, but I want to make sure that I’m putting my time into the projects that will benefit you. A few of the possibilities are listed below, but I’m very interested to hear your ides as well! Have a look through the list, then please chime in on the forums.

How do you train your staff? What materials do you already use or what materials would you like to have? What are your needs or wants in terms of evaluation, continuing education, certification?

UC2018 Highlights

Details: Category: Key Notes; Last Updated: Tuesday, 15 May 2018 19:20; Published: Tuesday, 15 May 2018 18:53; Written by Katy Patrick

Whew! Are you all caught up from the Users’ Conference yet?

For those of you who were at the conference, make sure to fill out our feedback form! Every year, the conference planning committees comb through your responses to find out what worked, what didn’t, and what people want from the Users’ Conference. Every voice matters—so please share yours!

James Burts and Alexa observe James Gleason testing the new User Interface.

For our part, we’re very happy with how the conference went. We came back with a ton of great feedback about what we’ve been working on, and what you want to see from us in the future. I hope y'all were able to learn as much as we did!

We want to keep that energy up and the conversation going, so if you are new to the KLASusers’ website, or if there are others at your library that aren’t on board yet—go right ahead and Create an Account. This is also a great time to let us know if there's anyone at your library that needs to be added to the email list. You don't need to be an admin to participate! Reader Advisors, circulation staff, machine wranglers, records managers, and everyone else who uses KLAS is invited to join in.

If you didn’t get to join us in Boise, want to look over sessions you didn’t make it to, or have a look back at something you maybe, sorta, kinda, remember, Drea has put together an article linking to all of the presentations and handouts: Check it out!

It was wonderful to see so many of you; and we hope you will all be able to attend next year's conference! Read on for a few of my favorite highlights:

ASCLA Awards & Keystone

Details: Category: Key Notes; Last Updated: Tuesday, 22 May 2018 19:38; Published: Tuesday, 22 May 2018 19:09; Written by Andrea Callicutt

ASCLA / KLAS / NOD Award

Did you know that Keystone Systems has sponsored the ASCLA / KLAS / NOD Award annually since 2004?

Actually, your first question is probably, "What is the ASCLA / KLAS / NOD Award?"

In 2000 the Association for Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies (ASCLA) and the National Organization on Disability (NOD) began providing a $1000 award and certificate of recognition for a library organization that developed or expanded its services for patrons with disabilities, specifically through a specific project or change in physical and / or attitudinal barriers to an effort to make their library services more accessible and inclusive. Originally sponsored by Aetna Healthcare, Keystone Systems assumed sponsorship in 2004.

ASCLA logo RBG 1 just-ASCLA-1

In case you haven't heard...

Details: Category: Key Notes; Last Updated: Tuesday, 01 May 2018 20:58; Published: Tuesday, 01 May 2018 20:47; Written by Andrea Callicutt

The 2018 KLAS Users' Conference is next week. Yeah, you probably have, but we thought we'd mention it anyway.

f you aren't able to attend, but you want to follow along at home be sure to tune into Keystone's social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn for pictures and posts from the conference. Or, you can search for the hashtag "#KLASUC2018" which we will be using and encouraging all our conference attendees to use as well.