Online library accessibility support: a case study within the Open University Library

The Open University (OU) is the UK’s largest distance education provider and has a large and growing disabled student population. Disabled user support presents particular challenges for an online library service in the distance learning environment. The OU introduced guidelines for working with non-OU–authored content (external content) in 2011 which fundamentally altered the focus of library support from on-demand conversions to preemptive identification – and where necessary, conversion – of essential content. This case study describes Library Services’ learning journey through its support for one particular module with lots of external content, the resultant benefits to its support services and considers areas for future development.