Library Summer Hours

The library will be open the following schedule during summer session:

Monday – Thursday     8 a.m. – 8 p.m.

Friday                            8 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Saturday                        Closed

Sunday                          Noon – 7 p.m.

The RLC and atrium are open 24/7 with Retriever Card swipe.

Printing is available on the 1st, 2nd and 7th floors of the library.

Department Hours

Research Help

Chat Support: Monday - Friday (10 a.m. to 5 p.m.)

Research Help Desk: Tuesday - Wednesday (11 a.m. to 3 p.m.)

Make a Research Appointment

Digital Media Lab
By appointment only; reserve recording space's here. Equipment Holds can also be made online.

Innovation Lab
Monday – Thursday (Noon to 4 p.m.) Visit the lab's website for current policies and training information. 

Special Collections Reading Room
By appointment only; schedule your time here

Gallery
Closed during Summer Session

Hello everyone!

In preparing for our renovations, Retriever Essentials is closed tomorrow (7/8/2026) for our relocation to lower Flat Tuesdays! We will be there for the remainder of the month.

We will reopen on 7/10/2026. Please plan your trip accordingly, and we apologize for any inconviences.

Tomorrow Wednesday 7/8, thw Women's, Gender, & Equity Center will be closed. The summer walk and chair yoga will continue as planned (more information here!)!

We will resume our normal 10-3 summer hours on Thursday, July 9th. 

Please reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns at womenscenter@umbc.edu

Women's, Gender, & Equity Center is open for full participation by all individuals regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or any other protected category under applicable federal law, state law, and the University's nondiscrimination policy.

The Women's, Gender, & Equity Center is committed to creating an accessible and inclusive environment for all students, staff, faculty, and visitors. If you have difficulties accessing any of the materials on our site or any of our events or discussions, please contact us so that we can provide an alternative format and/or remedy any accessibility challenges.

Microsoft Word is one of the most common tools used for creating flyers, handouts, syllabi, readings, and assignments. It’s also one of the most common sources of accessibility problems in Blackboard courses or websites. The good news: Word has built-in tools that can make it easy to create documents that work for every faculty, staff, and student; including those who rely on screen readers or other assistive technologies. These 5 tips will help you build accessibility into your Word documents from the start, no special expertise required.

1. Use Heading Styles

One of the most impactful things you can do for document accessibility is also one of the simplest: use Word’s built-in heading styles instead of manually increasing font size or bolding text to create section titles. Heading styles already give your document structure that screen readers can navigate, such as a table of contents for assistive technology. Think of headings as signposts. Screen reader users can jump from heading to heading the same way sighted readers scan a page.

• Find heading styles in the Home tab under “Styles.”
• Apply Heading 1 for your main title, Heading 2 for major sections, and Heading 3 for subsections.
• Avoid skipping levels, don’t jump from Heading 1 directly to Heading 3.

2. Write Descriptive Link Text

When you insert a hyperlink into a Word document, the link text is what gets read aloud to screen reader users. Vague phrases like “click here,” “read more,” or a raw URL give no information about where the link leads. Descriptive link text also helps users who are scanning a document quickly. (Refer to 5 Tips for Creating Clear and Accessible Links for more information.)

• Instead of: “For the course schedule, click here.”
• Write: “Download the course schedule (PDF).”

3. Add Alt Text to Images

Any image in your Word document that conveys meaning (e.g., a diagram, a chart, a photograph), does need an alternative text; so students using screen readers can access the information it contains. If you’re unsure how to describe a complex image, a generative AI tool can generate a starting point. Be sure to review and revise before saving it.

• Right-click on an image and select “Edit Alt Text.”
• Write a concise description focused on the image’s purpose, not just its appearance.
• For purely decorative images, check the “Mark as decorative” box in the alt text panel.

4. Make Tables Accessible

Tables are a common accessibility problem in Word documents, especially when they’re used for layout rather than data. A table designed to organize visual information can become a challenge for a screen reader user to follow if it’s not structured correctly.

• Use tables for data, not for page layout.
• Add a table title or brief description above the table so students know what it contains.
• Mark your header row: right-click the top row → Table Properties → Row → check “Repeat as header row at the top of each page.”
• Avoid merged or split cells. Keep tables simple. 

5. Run the Accessibility Checker

Word has a built-in Accessibility Checker that scans your document and flags any potential problems to fix before you save and share it with students. It can quickly identify any issues you might have missed.

• Go to Review → Check Accessibility.
• The checker will flag errors (must fix), warnings (should fix), and tips (consider fixing).
• Click on each flagged item for a plain-language explanation and apply the suggested fix.

Running the Accessibility Checker in Microsoft Word before uploading a file to Sites or Blackboard is one of the simplest habits you can build into your document workflow. It’s also one of the fastest ways to improve your Accessibility score.

For more information, view UMBC’s Digital Accessibility’s site on Accessible Documents & Presentations on how to make your word documents accessible.

Coming Soon: Beyond PDFs

Why Use PDFs at All? While this article focuses on making your Word documents accessible, we often get asked why PDFs are so common if they are harder to remediate. In an upcoming article, we’ll dive into the question of the PDF Dilemma and share why sharing your original Word file is often the preferred choice for accessibility. Keep an eye out for that deep dive soon!

Gordon Feinblatt, a law firm located in the Harbor East neighborhood of Baltimore City, is seeking a sophomore, junior, or senior college student for a paid, part-time, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) focused internship.

Check out the details below and be sure to apply ASAP! 

A typical day for this in-person position will include assisting with a mix of researching and implementing internal programing benefiting the entire Gordon Feinblatt team, assisting with event organization and management, and collaborating with our marketing department to document the company’s CSR efforts through internal and external publications.

The CSR team spends most of its time:

Supporting community service events with non-profit partners 

Organizing events with student groups from area law schools, colleges, and high schools 

Identifying and hosting external speakers for our five employee affinity groups as well as firm wide events and celebrations 

Creating internal communications and external publications, including an annual report. 

Providing strategic policy advice and training to a mix of internal and external stakeholders 


Requirements:

Prior college course work related to corporate social responsibility, diversity, equity, and inclusion, or community partnerships and engagement is a plus, but not strictly required.

Strong written communication skills and organizational ability will help this candidate make the most of this experience.

The successful candidate will be expected to be available between 8-10 hours per week during regular business hours during the fall 2026 academic semester.

The days will be agreed upon in advance by the parties but are flexible. There are also occasional opportunities to support professional events in the evening based upon the candidates’ availability. 

To apply, visit our careers page at https://www.gfrlaw.com/careers/current-openings 

Salary Range:

$15.00 per hour

Interested applicants should submit a resume, unofficial transcript, and a brief cover letter explaining their interest in the position or the field of corporate social responsibility (CSR) by completing the application here. 

While we may not have personal pizza coupons to offer you during our Summer Reading Challenge, keeping up your reading skills over the summer still helps you earn a reward: making sure you can fly into the fall semester with as little turbulence as possible.

Remember that it doesn't matter WHAT you read - reading is a focus-based skill, meaning that even if you're reading the beachiest of beach reads, you're still able to turn your attention to a mental task for an extended period of time, which is essential for college students. If you can put an hour every day towards reading, we suggest you do, but a shorter (or longer) period every day (or every few days) can still be very beneficial.

Our staff is full of avid readers and we have some science-y recommendations for you each month if you're looking for some good options - check out our July picks here!

If you are looking for more options, we've also asked your professors and advisors for their top recommendations in fiction and nonfiction, plus some self-help books to keep your learning skills fresh. You can view our list of suggested readings HERE. The best part? The book recommendations are all directly related to your interests, major, and careers. Some of them may even give you insight into your upcoming classes this Fall -- let’s have the best summer yet!

Hello.

I’m inquiring to see if any department/group at UMBC has an operable monitor(s) that you are seeking to get rid of that we and DPS would appreciate repurposing for use?

Recently some of our monitors have been failing.  Wanted to check first with our campus partners to see if you all were getting rid of something like this.

If you can help us with this request, first of all THANK YOU and then please reach out to me via chat, email so we can arrange the next steps.

UMBC’s Career Center featured Cybersecurity MS student Sayee Bandishte as its "Intern of the Week". Working as a Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) Analyst Intern with UMBC DoIT, she supported the Maryland Public Service Commission by evaluating cybersecurity risks and controls for critical energy infrastructure using NIST frameworks.

Read the post on her background and internship here, and learn more about UMBC's MS in Cybersecurity graduate program here.

The AOK Library and Gallery will be CLOSED Wednesday, July 8, 2026 due to a staff meeting. We will reopen at 8 AM on Thursday, July 9, 2026.

The Atrium and RLC will be open via cardswipe to all current students, faculty, and staff. Online resources will be available through library.umbc.edu.

Printing is available in the RLC and the Commons.

We could use a few more plastic or metal inboxes/letter trays in our department.  If you have any cluttering up your areas, please email me at cfu2@umbc.edu.  Photo is just for interest.  Thank you!