Managing Accessible Library Web Content

Reference Type Journal Article
Year of Publication
2015
Author
Author: Binky Lush
Journal
Advances in librarianship
Volume
40
Pagination
169-189
Abstract
Purpose - Academic library web sites contain a vast amount of content, often contributed by a large number of content creators with varying levels of technical expertise. The Penn State University Libraries site contains almost 10,000 pages contributed by over 200 content creators from all areas of the Libraries.
Methodology/approach - In October 2011, in response to a complaint filed against Penn State by the National Federation of the Blind, the University Libraries agreed to comply with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 AA within a year to ensure that the web site would be accessible to all Libraries’ users.
Findings - This chapter describes how the Libraries developed a remediation plan; engaged content authors in the Libraries’ accessibility effort; implemented new content roles and workflow to ensure web accessibility and how they continue to actively measure and maintain the accessibility of web site content.
Originality/value - This chapter will be useful to Libraries committed to making their web content accessible to all users.
Notes
This article described how the Pennsylvania State University Libraries developed a remediation plan to engage content authors into the improvement of web accessibility. By proposing an author/publisher model and author/publisher/web rep model, the workflow to ensure and maintain web accessibility could be further improved. The findings in this article should provide social, technical as well as managerial significance to the web accessibility research in the future.
DOI
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