Assessing the Library Homepages of COPLAC Institutions for Section 508 Accessibility Errors: Who's Accessible, Who's Not, and How the Online WebXACT Assessment Tool Can Help

Huprich, Julia; Green, Ravonne

doi:10.1300/j204v04n01_04

“…Until 2007, the vast majority of accessibility studies involving academic library web sites employed Bobby, a software-based accessibility checker, or WebEXACT, its later (and final) iteration, to investigate conformance to the WCAG 1.0 guidelines (Kester, 1999;Lilly and Van Fleet, 1999;Blake, 2000;Craven, 2000;Schmetzke, 2001Schmetzke, , 2003Schmetzke, , 2005Spindler, 2002;Yu, 2002;Providenti, 2004;Comeaux and Schmetzke, 2007;Huprich and Green, 2006). At the time, the studies by Térmens-Graells et al (2002, 2003 were -with their exclusively manual assessment approach -among the exceptions.…”

Section: Tools and Standardsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…home pages and those pages directly linked to them; the respective findings of these other studies will be discussed further below, in connection with those of other longitudinal studies. Huprich and Green (2006), who checked the library homepages of public liberal art colleges -all the 22 members of the Council on Public Liberal Arts Colleges (COPLAC) -for compliance with the Section 508 standards using WebEXACT as evaluation tool, found that only 14 percent had zero accessibility errors. However, the authors reported a surprisingly low average occurrence of accessibility barriers (0.68 per web page), which they interpreted as reflecting "a conscious effort on the part of COPLAC institutions to reach compliance" (p. 69).…”

Section: Academic Library Web Sitesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accessibility of academic library web sites in North America

Comeaux

¹

,

Schmetzke

²

2013

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2014),"Improving academic library website accessibility for people with disabilities", Library Management, Vol. 35 Iss 8/9 pp. 565-581 http://dx.If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -The purpose of this paper is to present longitudinal data on the accessibility of 56 North American academic library web sites, as well as insights into the connection between accessibility and certain design methods and technologies. Design/methodology/approach -Bobby 3.

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Access and Accessibility of Academic Libraries' Electronic Resources and Services

Blummer¹,

Kenton

²

Disability and Equity in Higher Education Accessibility

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An analysis of the literature on access and accessibility in academic libraries identified five themes including: evaluating electronic resources and services for disabled users, examining the digital divide and electronic access in countries with limited resources, analyzing access to library collections and services, increasing access to electronic resources and services, and utilizing tools to promote access to resources. The review highlighted the importance of assessment, user studies, collaboration, skills instruction, and technologies in fostering access and accessibility in academic libraries. Assessing all users' access to library resources remains essential in identifying issues with the delivery of services and materials through the web. User studies foster improved access to resources by revealing individuals' resource and instructional needs as well their physical impairments. Collaboration among various entities supports funding, resource acquisition, and service development, especially in countries with limited resources. Instruction, like collaboration, enhances users' access through the improvement of their information and digital literacy skills. Lastly, access and accessibility of library resources centers on the use of technology to support all users' abilities to utilize libraries materials and services. Students' access to library resources and services is critical for their completion of course work as well as their development of 21st Century skills.

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Access and Accessibility of Academic Libraries' Electronic Resources and Services

Blummer¹,

Kenton

²

2018

Library Science and Administration

1

0

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An analysis of the literature on access and accessibility in academic libraries identified five themes including: evaluating electronic resources and services for disabled users, examining the digital divide and electronic access in countries with limited resources, analyzing access to library collections and services, increasing access to electronic resources and services, and utilizing tools to promote access to resources. The review highlighted the importance of assessment, user studies, collaboration, skills instruction, and technologies in fostering access and accessibility in academic libraries. Assessing all users' access to library resources remains essential in identifying issues with the delivery of services and materials through the web. User studies foster improved access to resources by revealing individuals' resource and instructional needs as well their physical impairments. Collaboration among various entities supports funding, resource acquisition, and service development, especially in countries with limited resources. Instruction, like collaboration, enhances users' access through the improvement of their information and digital literacy skills. Lastly, access and accessibility of library resources centers on the use of technology to support all users' abilities to utilize libraries materials and services. Students' access to library resources and services is critical for their completion of course work as well as their development of 21st Century skills.

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Assessing the Library Homepages of COPLAC Institutions for Section 508 Accessibility Errors: Who's Accessible, Who's Not, and How the Online WebXACT Assessment Tool Can Help

Cited by 3 publications

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Accessibility of academic library web sites in North America

Accessibility of academic library web sites in North America

Access and Accessibility of Academic Libraries' Electronic Resources and Services

Access and Accessibility of Academic Libraries' Electronic Resources and Services

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