LYRASIS Releases: “Understanding the Landscape of Library Accessibility for Online Materials” (2019 LYRASIS Accessibility Survey Report)

From LYRASIS:

LYRASIS announces the release of a new study, “Understanding the Landscape of Library Accessibility for Online Materials”. The study was undertaken in an effort to map the landscape of accessibility policies and practices for online resources as managed by libraries and archives across the United States.

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Authored by Hannah Rosen, LYRASIS Scholarly Communication Specialist and Digitization Program Coordinator, and Jill Grogg, Strategist for the Content and Scholarly Communication Initiatives team, the study is based on a survey conducted in early 2019 as a mechanism to better understand how (primarily academic) libraries within the United States are handling accessibility for their online content, and more specifically, where they stand in terms of policy and implementation.

Key Findings

• Libraries are the most progressive in terms of accessibility when they maintain the most control over their content.
• National policies and community technical guidelines on accessibility hold more prominence than local or institutional mandates.
• Most accessibility training is self-initiated; more infrastructure is needed to train librarians in accessibility mandates and tools.

Direct to Full Text Report: “Understanding the Landscape of Library Accessibility for Online Materials”
42 pages; PDF.

Additional Materials

Direct to Survey Questions (PDF)

Direct to Survey Responses (XLS)

Direct to Survey Responses (CSV)

Filed under: Archives and Special Collections, Digital Preservation, Libraries, News