A specialized space now open on the third floor of Sterne Library will enable Blazers with neurodivergence — or a need for different environmental stimulation — to reset and work in a setting designed to be sensory-friendly and accommodating.
Designed and furnished through a partnership between UAB Libraries and Disability Support Services, the sensory room in Sterne 385 can accommodate two individuals at a time and features a variety of sensory-friendly equipment, including adjustable lighting options, a sound machine, meditation prompts, fidget tools, weight lap pads, and a sensory canoe. Visitors also can assemble puzzles and color on coloring pages.
“Our goal for this sensory room is to create a calm, welcoming environment for Blazers who need it,” said Patricia West, assistant dean for Public Services in UAB Libraries. “We’re always assessing needs and working to make our library spaces as useful and as accommodating as possible to our community, and we’re so excited to open this new room.”
The partnership between Disability Support Services and UAB Libraries while creating the sensory room is a definitive example of DSS’ mission, which is to work with units across campus to create an environment where individuals with disabilities all can access programs, activities and opportunities by identifying and removing barriers, providing individualized services, and facilitating accommodations. These ideas also are reinforced in UAB’s strategic plan, Forging Ahead, which outlines the university’s mission, vision, values, peers, foundations and pillars and outlines institutional goals, strategies to achieve them and measurements of success.
“One of UAB’s shared values is collaboration, and we’re encouraged to all work together as a team for the greater good,” said Jalan Cunningham, assistant director for DSS. “This project is an excellent example of what happens when departments work together for the benefit of our Blazer community.”
In spring 2025, Samantha Wadsworth, ADA investigator and faculty advisor in DSS, helped create a pop-up sensory room kit, which first became available during Stress Less Week, a weeklong slate of events and programming each semester designed to help Blazers manage stress before final exams. The kit, which can be reserved by UAB employees online through DSS, contains low-lighting and lamps, comfortable seating, white noise machines, fidget items and art supplies, and takes 30 minutes or fewer to set up in a space such as a conference room.
“Thanks to supportive campus leadership, the pop-up sensory kit project sparked a larger conversation about creating accessible spaces in high-traffic student areas, which eventually led to the creation of the sensory room in Sterne Library,” Wadsworth said.
Recent research shows the importance of providing sensory-friendly spaces in libraries for patrons who are neurodivergent or have illnesses such as anxiety or depression. A 2019 study from the University of Minnesota Duluth says that “sensory spaces [in libraries] promote calm, focus and innovation,” and notes that while many academic libraries have designated quiet areas — like Sterne’s entire third floor — “there are times when a different quiet environment is needed.”
Creating accessible environments on campus is an example of UAB’s shared value encouraging Blazers to “respect all” and work to champion and create opportunities for everyone, says Tiffany Pardue, user access librarian for UAB Libraries. Pardue worked alongside West, Cunningham and Wadsworth, as well as Alliemarie Humphries, Sterne Library supervisor, to bring the sensory room idea to life.
“This is a busy, vibrant campus with a diverse population of students, faculty, staff, and patients,” said Pardue, who researched and wrote the proposal for the new sensory space. “It is an important part of our mission to keep those people in mind while we upgrade our facilities and work with others to bring new resources into operation.”
The sensory room is the second new space in Sterne to open in 2025. Also designed to meet Blazer’s unique needs, the new virtual meeting room in Sterne 135A, which opened in summer 2025, is designated for use for telehealth appointments, thesis/dissertation meetings and presentations, conference presentations and interviews and is equipped with a computer and equipment for video conferencing, sound-reducing paneling, a white noise machine, and a power strip.