Accessibility in the Virtual Library: Creating Equal Opportunity Web Sites.

Abstract

In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), libraries not only have to provide equal access for patrons to physical collections and equipment but to electronic resources as well. The Web Accessibility Initiative is developing guidelines for building Web sites that are accessible to people with disabilities. By following these guidelines and using common sense, a library Web site can be ADA compliant and ensure that every patron has access to all the resources a library has to offer. To use a common metaphor, there are some who need more than an on-ramp to get onto the information superhighway. Building accessibility into a library Web site ensures that all patrons have a chance to access the resources a library has to offer. Unfortunately, computer design assumes use of several physical capabilities or combinations of capabilities--sight for viewing the monitor, manual dexterity for typing on the keyboard, and hand-eye coordination for using the mouse, etc.(1) Although a well-designed Web site allows for assistive technology to relieve some of these difficulties, accessibility has to be built into the Web site itself. As Marcia Norris of De Anza College in California puts it: If we can get universal design built in at the front end, it will be easier than having to retrofit or to have separate but equal sites.(2) Although providing access to information resources is a prime purpose of a library, the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act impresses upon us the need to increase our efforts to ensure that all patrons have equal access to these resources. Coincidental to the passing of this bill has been the rise of the Internet from ivory tower obscurity through the development of gopher, text-based browsers, and Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs). The increased availability of personal computers, public Internet access, and adaptive computer technology have produced an explosion in information provision and exchange. People with disabilities have relatively easy access to more information sources than ever before, especially when using assistive technologies such as screen readers, information sources such as gopher, and text-based browsers such as Lynx. For some people, such as print-impaired users, much of this information was inaccessible prior to the advent of the computer.(3) Ironically, the Graphical User Interface that transformed the Internet into the World Wide Web has all but slammed the door shut on this flood of information resources for people with disabilities. Fortunately, the GUI is flexible enough to address the issue of accessibility. It's a matter of educating site designers about information-access barriers on the WWW and how to overcome those barriers.(4) In February of 1998, the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), a part of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), issued the first public working draft of a document to guide page builders in constructing Web Sites accessible to people with disabilities.(5) Although this document and its revisions must be treated as a work in progress, library Web sites can be made accessible by combining common sense and incorporating WAI recommendations. The first step in making a Web site accessible is to determine what makes it inaccessible. People facing visual, hearing, motor, learning, and cognitive barriers each encounter different problems with a Web site. Sometimes, a remedy for one can create a barrier for another. Keeping the design as simple as possible is a good starting point for building a barrier-free Web site. This does not mean there has to be a bland, boring presentation of content. It means that all elements must be chosen deliberately to enhance the content rather than be window dressing or distract from the presentation. Some of these barriers can be removed by adjusting browser preferences and using adaptive technology, but only if the Web site supports these options. In other words, the designer has to know what parts of the Web site to leave to the control of the patron. …

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