Events & Workshops

Virtual BBB - Online & Blended Learning / April Chamberlain (Trussville City Schools) Learn how a Build a Better Book organizer facilitated a BBB project using digital tools for managing in face to face, blended or virtual environment. Digital tools used was Google Classroom, Hyperdocs, Screencastify, and Flipgrid. You will...

Discover how a BBB facilitator set up a year-long elective-class and built empathy, built capacity, built relationships, and built resources with elective-class students for their school’s visually impaired population. Leave with a principal-pitch-meeting planning sheet, a pacing guide template, and a new network of support to start your own elective...

Build a Better Book partner Neal Mckenzie with the Sonoma County Office of Education was featured in an article and radio interview by KQED. Read about how he helped his students with visual impairments adjust to the rapid change to on-line learning that occured during "Stay-at-Home" orders at the start...

Welcome to our 17 new partner sites! Librarians, teachers, and makerspace instructors from 13 different states traveled to Boulder, CO for a 3-day workshop. Participants got hands-on experience creating tactile fables, adding sound, and learning best practices for accessible and universal design.

Phyllis Davis, librarian at The Library Station has pulled together a wide-range of community members through participation in her Build a Better Book programs. Without a designated makerspace, Phyllis incorporated BBB into a regular "Teen Night" library program on Friday nights, introducing Design Thinking models, and partnering with 3Doodler who...

Conference date: June 28, 2020 (CANCELLED due to COVID-19 pandemic) Location : Anaheim, CA Build a Better Book: Empathy-Driven Design in School and Library Makerspaces Presenters: April Chamberlain, Dr. Stacey Forsyth, Ian Matty, Chelsea Sims Build a Better Book engages youth with an empathy-driven design task: creating accessible books and...

Conference date: May 17–21, 2020 Session: Wednesday, May 20th from 1:30- 2:10 p.m. Location: Lincoln, Nebraska NLS 2020: Access, Discovery, Engagement, the 2020 National Conference of Librarians Serving Blind and Print Disabled Individuals Presenters: Stacey Forsyth, PhD - Director, CU Science Discovery, University of Colorado, Boulder Amanda Gonzalez - Reference...

Conference Date: May 6, 2020 Location: Cambridge, Maryland Presenters : Stacey Forsyth, PhD - Director, CU Science Discovery, University of Colorado, Boulder; Abigail DuPont - Special Needs Library Associate, Bel Air Branch, Harford County Public Library; Amanda Gonzalez - Reference and Patron Services Librarian, Maryland State Library for the Blind...

Conference Date: April 30, 2020 Location: Ocean City, Maryland Presenters: LaShawn Myles - Youth Services Librarian, Maryland State Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped Build a Better Book Approximately 1,250 education colleagues from across the state and surrounding areas for Maryland's top professional development event of the year. Thought-provoking...

Conference Date: April 21, 2020 Location: Cedar Rapids, Iowa The Grant Wood AEA Building Bridges Conference provides the opportunity to learn about the latest in universal design, accessible and assistive technologies (AT), instructional strategies, and services for learners ages 0-21. Build a Better Book Presentation Presenters: Dianna Geers - Grant...