The School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Champaign-Urbana (CU) Community Fab Lab, in partnership with the American Printing House for the Blind, Young Adult Library Services Association, and Reaching Across Illinois Library System Makerspace Networking Group, received a three-year, $498,638 National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS grant LG-252360-OLS-22) for their project, “Promoting Computational Thinking Skills for Blind and Visually Impaired Teens Through Accessible Library Makerspaces.”

Our project activities include training maker professionals and conducting accessibility status assessments; hosting summer camps with BVI teens to co-design accessible maker curriculum; testing developed accessible maker programs in four Illinois library makerspaces; and training librarians through webinars and workshops. Project beneficiaries include BVI teens, librarians with enhanced competencies for serving diverse youth, and all makers and library users who benefit from a more inclusive and accessible library makerspace.