Additional Options

Disability Services

Building Accessibility

  • Entrance on Babcock Drive (east side of building) has a power door with buttons for automatically opening doors.
  • All floors are accessible by elevator.
  • Accessible restrooms are located on second floor (entrance level) and fourth floor.
  • Assistance retrieving stack materials may be requested at the Service Desk on second floor (entrance level).

Parking

The most convenient parking is located in Lot 36, the parking ramp next to Steenbock Library.

  • Details about visitor parking may be found on our Location & Directions page.
  • The ramp has accessible stalls on all levels and an elevator is located in the northeast corner of the ramp. The campus Transportation Services division indicates that these stalls are available on a “first-come, first-served basis”.
  • The disabled stalls on Level 2 are convenient to the bridge that connects to the entrance level of the library.
  • State of Wisconsin Department of Transportation (DOT) disabled parking identification permits or with DIS and VET DIS plates may park in the accessible stalls. Note that some stalls may be restricted to UW disabled permits only. For more information, please consult the Accessible Transporation Options page (with its parking details).

Pedestrian Routes

Accessible Pedestrian Routes Map (PDF)

Research Assistance

Available research assistance options include:

  • Circulation/Reference Desk staff can give assistance and refer as needed. Contact us for assistance.
  • Photocopying and scanning assistance is available from Circulation/Reference Desk staff.
  • Workshops & Events are available to anyone. If possible, please let staff know in advance if you will need accommodation of any sort. Individual sessions may also be requested.

Access to Print or Online Materials

Available assistance with retrieving and using library materials include:

  • Regular paging services to retrieve library materials from the shelves are available to those registered with the campus McBurney Disability Resource Center. Contact McBurney: (608) 263-2741, voice/Relay 711 or (608) 225-7956, text.
  • Request occasional assistance in retrieving books at Steenbock Circulation/Reference Desk.
  • Requests for books from UW-Madison and UW-System libraries can be made by following the link to “Place Requests” in the Library Catalog. These materials will be delivered to Steenbock Library or to any other UW-Madison library you specify.
  • Requests for articles (on-campus and off) and all other materials can be made through Interlibrary Loan.
  • Scan documents to email using networked library photocopiers. Use these scanners to send a PDF copy of documents to email and then use software with optical character recognition to convert the images to text for reading.

Access to Course Materials

Assistive Technologies

DoIT InfoLab computers (1st floor Annex and 2nd floor) include the software listed below. One workstation in the Annex is also positioned on a height-adjustable table. List of lab software.

  • JAWS
  • Kurzweil 3000
  • On-Screen Keyboard
  • ZoomText

Public computers on 2nd floor (entrance level) have the following software; follow Accessibility icon on desktop to access settings and software:

  • On-Screen Keyboard
  • Screen Magnifier
  • Narrator

Contact/Feedback

Emergencies

  • In case of building evacuation, if you cannot use the stairs, remain in the stairwell until emergency responders can reach you. Do not use the elevator in fire emergencies.
  • In case of severe storms, seek shelter in interior areas away from windows.
  • Emergency phones – request to use any staff phone or the phone available at our main desk.

Policy Statement

The UW-Madison libraries are committed to providing access to all library facilities and collections for people with disabilities. Whenever possible, the libraries will select and acquire resources and technologies that are accessible to all in full compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. For those parts of the historical library collections that are not accessible, the libraries are committed to providing reasonable accommodations and timely access in appropriately-reformatted media that are accessible to disabled library users.