Website accessibility: A comparative analysis of Australian National and State/Territory Library websites

Submitted by mlb78 on Fri, 09/16/2016 - 17:23
TitleWebsite accessibility: A comparative analysis of Australian National and State/Territory Library websites
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2012
AuthorsConway, V., Brown, J., Hollier, S., and Choll, C.
JournalAustralian Library Journal
Volume61
Issue3
Pagination170-188
AbstractThis paper assesses the accessibility of the websites of the National Library of Australia, and those of each of the State/Territory Libraries. The analysis has been conducted using expert manual evaluation, automated tools and users with disabilities to identify both the Web Content Accessibility Guideline (WCAG) Version 2 compliance as well as the chief accessibility barriers identified by users with disabilities. While the results from the different aspects of the hybrid testing methods differ considerably in their ranking, the quantitative data suggest that at the time of writing, none of the libraries assessed meet WCAG 2.0 Level A compliance. Unfortunately, it follows that people with disabilities would have problems accessing materials from the websites of all of the nine libraries tested. In view of the fact that one in five people have a disability that places restrictions on their mobility, employment and/or education, this is understandably significant. Despite the issue of noncompliance, however, many libraries had clearly considered and implemented elements of WCAG 2.0 and would only require minimal improvements to reach the web standard, while others have considerable work to do before they meet the required inclusive website design advocated by both Australian and international standards.
NotesThis study evaluated the web accessibility of both the National and the State/Territory Libraries. These websites were evaluated by experts, by automated tools and by the disabled people against the WCAG version 2. Unfortunately, the study indicated that all nine websites did not comply with the requirements.
URLhttp://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84871841575&partnerID=40&md5=4c9b156b151ee48f98e9db70b8bd7ebf
DOI10.1080/00049670.2012.10736059