January 23, 2024

New Wheelchair Charging Stations Are Here!

The UW Libraries have added four wheelchair charging stations, located in the Odegaard Undergraduate Library, the Open Scholarship Commons in Suzzallo Library, the Research Commons in the Allen Library, and the Foster Business Library. These charging stations were able to be purchased thanks to the UW’s Student Technology Fee (STF). The charging stations are from the Clearview Disability Resource Center and have 24 volt five-amp chargers, as well as a dual USB charging port. They are available to all library visitors. The Libraries have long had STF-funded stations equipped for charging small devices such as phones and tablets, and are excited to now have the necessary infrastructure for ensuring people using powered wheelchairs can recharge on campus. 

Before the Libraries added these four charging stations to the Seattle campus, the only existing public spot for charging wheelchairs was in the Hans Rosling Center.

“Having multiple recharging options on campus will be beneficial to powerchair users. For instance, commuting between the main campus and the South Campus can be incredibly draining on the batteries. Having chargers across campus offers increased flexibility to do whatever you need to do while on campus and not having to worry if the battery has enough power to get home,” said Andy Andrews, Assistant Director of Academic Services at Disability Resources for Students.

More charging stations are also expected to be added on campus in the future. One group working on adding charging capability to the campus is UW’s Engineers Without Borders Accessibility group, who are working on “Project Mobility” to improve the affordability of this endeavor. 

Enhancing equitable environments for teaching, learning and research is one of the UW Libraries main strategic priorities. To put those values into practice, we prioritized improving access to library spaces and resources by adding more wheelchair charging stations. We hope that these stations will improve the campus experience for wheelchair users, with the ability to recharge their devices as needed without having to cart around unwieldy cords or return home.

A full list of our accessible spaces and resources can be found on the Libraries Accessibility page. If you have any questions about the study room or would like to suggest potential areas of improvement related to Libraries’ accessibility, please contact us at uwlib-a11y@uw.edu.

 

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