ALA | Web Accessibility

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Web Accessibility

Many libraries are using the Internet to display and transmit information to their patrons. However, librarians must be aware of accessibility issues when designing web pages for library users, particularly those users with visual and hearing disabilities.

In order to address the needs of all patrons, librarians should take steps to ensure that library web sites are fully accessible for users with disabilities. Several organizations provide guidelines and standards to assist web designers in maximizing the accessibility of web sites. These standards promote maximum compatibility with assistive technology devices such as screen readers. Two such resources are the Web Accessibility Initiative of the World Wide Web Consortium, known as W3C, and WebAIM (Web Accessibility in Mind). Both of these resources provide guidelines developers can use to ensure web accessibility. These guidelines include:

Use written explanations, captioning and/or transcripts to explain all visual and audio content such as pictures and animations;
Employ a simple design that is easy to navigate through headings, lists, a consistent structure, and cascading style sheets for layout and style where possible;
Make sure that text and graphics can be understood without color;
Clarify natural language and use text labels for all links so that they make sense when read out of context. For example, avoid phrases such as "click here";
Summarize graphs and charts;
Avoid embedding textual information in graphics;
Make line-by-line reading sensible in tables; and
Use tools, checklists, and guidelines at www.w3c.org/wai to validate your web site.

There are online tools available that can assess the accessibility of web sites – use these to double-check your work. Also keep in mind that many states are adopting standards and policies to ensure that state websites are accessible to the public. It is important to make sure that library sites adhere to these rules.

Further information:

Web Accessibility Initiative of the World Wide Web Consortium:
http://www.w3c.org/wai

WebAIM:
http://www.webaim.org

Texas Technology Access Project:
http://tatp.edb.utexas.edu/library/webaccess.html

Bobby:
http://bobby.watchfire.com/bobby/html/en/index.jsp

Information Technology Technical Assistance and Training Center:
http://www.ittatc.org/

Trace Center:
http://www.tracecenter.org/world/web/