scholarly journals How to Audit Your Library Website for WCAG 2.1 Compliance

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Rayl
Keyword(s):  
User Experience ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Web Pages ◽  
Organizational Barriers ◽  
Library Staff ◽  
Accessibility Issues ◽  
Library Websites ◽  
Specific Barriers

The ever-evolving nature of library websites can lead to a mismatched collection of web pages that lack cohesion and, more importantly, lack key accessibility features for users. In Spring 2020, our library’s user experience unit audited our library website—excluding third-party vendor sites and services—for WCAG 2.1 compliance. While we based our method around situation-specific barriers, we believe the process we followed will help library staff who may lack time or money to put toward such projects or who run into organizational barriers. We share our process with others in hopes that it helps reduce barriers to identifying website accessibility issues.

scholarly journals Content Analysis of Library Websites of Select Colleges of Delhi University

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (04) ◽  
pp. 247-252
Author(s):  
AZIZUR RAHMAN ◽  
Batcha M. Sadik
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Web Pages ◽  
User Friendliness ◽  
Library Staff ◽  
College Libraries ◽  
Library Websites ◽  
The University ◽  
College Library ◽  
Social Networking Tools

The paper examines the accessibility, accuracy, currency and user-friendliness in ten selected library websites of the colleges affiliated to the University of Delhi. It further, discusses services and facilities being offered by the websites. The data were collected through a well-structured checklist from the selected colleges under study. The study reveals that maximum number of college libraries have mentioned information related to introduction 9(90 %), library staff 8(80 %), library hours 6(60 %) and membership 6(60 %) on their websites. However, study also report that none of the library websites/web-pages have features of social networking tools, feedbacks, regular updates and they also lack in providing question papers, news-clippings, user manual and single window search. The study findings reveals that Deshbandhu College library scored thirty eight (38) out of43 which is highest (ranked 1st) whereas Ramjas College scored only five (05) out of 43 and stands last. The study suggests, for carrying out such evaluative studies which is the need of hour to enable the institutions to update their websites periodically and come up with flying colours on user’s expectations

Evaluating the usability of the information architecture of academic library websites

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 566-590 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabel Mariann Silvis ◽  
Theo J.D. Bothma ◽  
Koos J.W. de Beer
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Academic Library ◽  
Evaluation Framework ◽  
Information Architecture ◽  
Visual Design ◽  
Heuristic Evaluation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Library Staff ◽  
Library Websites ◽  
Web Developers

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide an integrated list of heuristics and an information architecture (IA) framework for the heuristic evaluation of the IA of academic library websites as well as an evaluation framework with practical steps on how to conduct the evaluation.Design/methodology/approachA set of 14 heuristics resulted from an integration of existing usability principles from authorities in the field of usability. A review of IA literature resulted in a framework for dividing academic library websites into six dialogue elements. The resulting heuristics were made applicable to academic library websites through the addition of recommendations based on a review of 20 related studies.FindingsThis study provides heuristics, a framework and workflow guidelines that can be used by the various evaluators of academic library websites, i.e. library staff, web developers and usability experts, to provide recommendations for improving its usability.Research limitations/implicationsThe focus of the usability principles is the evaluation of the IA aspects of websites and therefore does not provide insights into accessibility or visual design aspects.Originality/valueThe main problem that is addressed by this study is that there are no clear guidelines on how to apply existing usability principles for the evaluation of the IA of academic library websites.

scholarly journals A Mobile Medical Knowledge Dissemination Platform (HeadToToe): Mixed Methods Study

10.2196/17729 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. e17729 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ido Zamberg ◽  
Olivier Windisch ◽  
Thomas Agoritsas ◽  
Mathieu Nendaz ◽  
Georges Savoldelli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Medical Students ◽  
User Experience ◽  
Clinical Skills ◽  
Medical Knowledge ◽  
Postgraduate Education ◽  
Third Party ◽  
University Hospital ◽  
Knowledge Dissemination ◽  
Easy Access ◽  
The University

Background Finding readily accessible, high-quality medical references can be a challenging task. HeadToToe is a mobile platform designed to allow easy and quick access to sound, up-to-date, and validated medical knowledge and guidance. It provides easy access to essential clinical medical content in the form of documents, videos, clinical scores, and other formats for the day-to-day access and use by medical students and physicians during their pre- and postgraduate education. Objective The aim of this paper is to describe the architecture, user interface, and potential strengths and limitations of an innovative knowledge dissemination platform developed at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. We also report preliminary results from a user-experience survey and usage statistics over a selected period. Methods The dissemination platform consists of a smartphone app. Through an administration interface, content is managed by senior university and hospital staff. The app includes the following sections: (1) main section of medical guidance, organized by clinical field; (2) checklists for history-taking and clinical examination, organized by body systems; (3) laboratory section with frequently used lab values; and (4) favorites section. Each content item is programmed to be available for a given duration as defined by the content’s author. Automatic notifications signal the author when the content is about to expire, hence, promoting its timely updating and reducing the risk of using obsolete content. In the background, a third-party statistical collecting tool records anonymous utilization statistics. Results We launched the final version of the platform in March 2019, both at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Geneva and at the University Hospital of Geneva in Switzerland. A total of 622 students at the university and 613 health professionals at the hospital downloaded the app. Two-thirds of users at both institutions had an iOS device. During the practical examination period (ie, May 2019) there was a significant increase in the number of active users (P=.003), user activity (P<.001), and daily usage time (P<.001) among medical students. In addition, there were 1086 clinical skills video views during this period compared to a total of 484 in the preceding months (ie, a 108% increase). On a 10-point Likert scale, students and physicians rated the app with mean scores of 8.2 (SD 1.9) for user experience, 8.1 (SD 2.0) for usefulness, and 8.5 (SD 1.8) for relevance of content. In parallel, postgraduate trainees viewed more than 6000 documents during the first 3 months after the implementation in the Division of Neurology at our institution. Conclusions HeadToToe is an educator-driven, mobile dissemination platform, which provides rapid and user-friendly access to up-to-date medical content and guidance. The platform was given high ratings for user experience, usefulness, and content quality and was used more often during the exam period. This suggests that the platform could be used as tool for exam preparation.

Web Accessibility and the Law

2011 ◽  
pp. 1-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holly Yu
Keyword(s):  
Web Sites ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Web Design ◽  
Web Accessibility ◽  
Legal Responsibility ◽  
Web Pages ◽  
State Laws ◽  
Section 508 ◽  
Rehabilitation Act ◽  
Accessibility Issues

Through a series of federal and state laws and standards, the legal foundation concerning Web accessibility that impact people with disabilities and their ability to fully overcome digital barriers and participate in the Web environment has been established. Currently, the concept of accessible design or universal design is increasingly becoming an important component of Web design. However, the unanswered questions in laws, the absence of the obligation in fulfilling legal requirements, and the general unawareness of the need to make Web pages accessible have created barriers in implementing the Americans with disabilities Act (ADA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act as amended in 1998, and others. In many cases, the absence of obligations is due to unfamiliarity with legal responsibility of creating accessible Web sites. As a result, the response to Web accessibility concerns frequently comes about only on an ad hoc basis. Identifying these barriers is the first step toward solutions. There are legal and practical approaches for addressing Web accessibility issues in policies, education, research and development, and technology and tools.

Assessment Strategies for Servant Leadership Practice in the Virtual Organization

2011 ◽  
pp. 1675-1687
Author(s):  
Darin R. Molnar
Keyword(s):  
Servant Leadership ◽  
Virtual Organization ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Assessment Instruments ◽  
Web Pages ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Global Marketplace ◽  
Leadership Practice ◽  
Survey Instruments ◽  
Assessment Strategies

Leadership in the virtual organization presents unique opportunities and challenges for the manager. Some researchers consider management in the virtual organization to be comprised mainly of challenges while others see it as the opportunity to realize competitive advantage in the global marketplace. Several leadership approaches offer interesting options for the manager within the context of the virtual organization. One standout approach that has gained increasing popularity over the last 30 years is servant leadership in which the leader is servant first. Those managers in virtual organizations who have committed to a practice of servant leadership recognize the need for assessment instruments to help them understand the level of perceived servant leadership characteristics among organizational members under their guidance. This understanding acts as a foundation for training within this context. With this in mind, Laub’s Organizational Leadership Assessment (OLA) offers a reliable survey instrument accepted by the servant leadership practice community. The OLA is easily administered to virtual organization members as a set of Web pages and can be used in conjunction with complementary, third-party data sets such as the World Values Survey database. Future directions for the assessment of servant leadership in the virtual organization include the potential modification of the OLA, as well as the creation of survey instruments to be used in conjunction with it.

scholarly journals Evaluating the web accessibility of IIT libraries: a study of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 121-145
Author(s):  
Subhajit Panda ◽  
Rupak Chakravarty
Keyword(s):  
Disabled Persons ◽  
Mean Value ◽  
Web Content ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Severity Scores ◽  
The Status ◽  
Accessibility Issues ◽  
Accessibility Guidelines ◽  
Library Websites ◽  
Content Accessibility

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate and identify the status of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) conformance levels (A, AA, AAA) and accessibility status in terms of Severity (Error, Warning and Review) and Responsibility (Editor, Webmaster and Developer) of Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) Library websites based on Siteimprove Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform.Design/methodology/approachThe library websites of IITs were tested using Siteimprove web-tool to gather details pertaining to W3C's WCAG 2.1 standards. The data thus obtained were then visualized using spreadsheet software for greater insight. A partial correlation test was also done to assess the relationship between the three conformance levels.FindingsThe study could identify significant accessibility-related limitations of the IIT library websites concerning the three WCAG 2.1 conformance levels A (max IIT Bombay), AA (max IIT Dhanbad (ISM)) and AAA (max IIT Gandhinagar and IIT Varanasi (BHU)), Severity and Responsibility. A positive linear relationship exists amongst these conformance levels. The mean value of conformance levels were found to be 18.3 (A), 2.2 (AA) and 3.1 (AAA); Severity scores were found to be 14.4 (Error), 3.9 (Warning) and 5.2 (Review); and Responsibility scores were found to be 6 (Editor), 9.3 (Webmaster) and 8.3 (Developer), respectively.Practical implicationsThe study highlights the comparative picture of accessibility issues and conformance levels of the IITs' library website homepage with the help of results derived/based on Siteimprove Accessibility Checker. The findings of the study reveal that though the library website of IITs' in India possess a well-designed and easily navigable website homepage as far as their accessibility for VIPs is concerned, there are several issues that are still to be resolved.Social implicationsWorld Intellectual Property Organization's (WIPO) Marrakesh VIP Treaty (MVT) and the W3C's WCAG cater to the requirements and rights of the persons with vision-related disability of accessing information and knowledge building a steeper and deeper knowledge divide. Identifying and rectifying the shortcomings in the library websites will bridge the accessibility-divide and make the society more inclusive.Originality/valueNo previous study could be identified evaluating the accessibility issues of the library website of Indian IITs focussed on vision-disabled persons using Siteimprove. The methodology and approach of this paper have value in terms of reusability and reproducibility facilitating future studies.

Assessment Strategies for Servant Leadership Practice in the Virtual Organization

2010 ◽  
pp. 181-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Darin R. Molnar
Keyword(s):  
Servant Leadership ◽  
Virtual Organization ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Assessment Instruments ◽  
Web Pages ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Global Marketplace ◽  
Leadership Practice ◽  
Survey Instruments ◽  
Assessment Strategies

Leadership in the virtual organization presents unique opportunities and challenges for the manager. Some researchers consider management in the virtual organization to be comprised mainly of challenges while others see it as the opportunity to realize competitive advantage in the global marketplace. Several leadership approaches offer interesting options for the manager within the context of the virtual organization. One standout approach that has gained increasing popularity over the last 30 years is servant leadership in which the leader is servant first. Those managers in virtual organizations who have committed to a practice of servant leadership recognize the need for assessment instruments to help them understand the level of perceived servant leadership characteristics among organizational members under their guidance. This understanding acts as a foundation for training within this context. With this in mind, Laub’s Organizational Leadership Assessment (OLA) offers a reliable survey instrument accepted by the servant leadership practice community. The OLA is easily administered to virtual organization members as a set of Web pages and can be used in conjunction with complementary, third-party data sets such as the World Values Survey database. Future directions for the assessment of servant leadership in the virtual organization include the potential modification of the OLA, as well as the creation of survey instruments to be used in conjunction with it.

Universal Site Accessibility

2011 ◽  
pp. 286-301
Author(s):  
Beth Archibald Tang
Keyword(s):  
Web Sites ◽  
Video Clip ◽  
The United States ◽  
Assistive Technologies ◽  
Third Party ◽  
United States Government ◽  
Web Pages ◽  
Major Life ◽  
Job Accommodation ◽  
Self Reliance

At least 15% of the American population has a disability (Kaye, 1998); some estimate it is as high as one in five. For research studies, the United States government usually defines the term disability as a limitation in a person’s major life activities during daily living, working, and attending school (Job Accommodation Network, 1992).1 Assistive technologies—the tools that help individuals complete their daily tasks—serve as adjuncts that help to bridge the gap between dependence and self-reliance. Webmasters2 have their tools, too. They use software that enhance the sites and make them interesting. While Web usability specialists place emphasis on completing tasks, the purpose of some Web sites may be more about evoking a “wow” response, and less about imparting information that visitors can use. On occasion, being able to access these Web pages requires that users go to a third-party Web site and download plug-ins to listen to an audio file, watch a video clip, or read downloaded documents. For people with disabilities, however, many of the Web sites inadvertently establish barriers that could be prevented.

Calculating Web impact factor for university websites of Pakistan

2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 883-895 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arif Khan ◽  
Haroon Idrees
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Impact Factor ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Search Strategy ◽  
Impact Factors ◽  
Web Pages ◽  
Content Type ◽  
University Websites ◽  
Ranking Systems ◽  
Library Websites

Purpose – This study aims to explore the Web impact factors (WIFs) for websites of Pakistani universities. The paper discusses why revised Web impact factor (RWIF) is more meaningful than simple WIF. The study also attempts to rank the top-five websites of Pakistani universities by considering four different website ranking systems and compares the WIFs of university websites of other developing countries as well. Design/methodology/approach – This study calculates the RWIF for subject websites using two webometric tools. Open Site Explorer service (i.e. Developer Shed) and two commercial search engines, i.e. Google and Bing, were used to collect the data for examining the RWIF for subject websites. Findings – Collectively 41,960 web pages and 49,740 inlinks were found in top-ten Pakistani universities’ websites. The collective RWIF for subject websites comes to 1.185, which is at the top in comparison with other developing countries, i.e. India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. Originality/value – Calculating WIF for university websites in Pakistan and presenting the comparison with other types of website ranking system is a kind of first study conducted for Pakistani library websites. The study also presents alternate search strategy for data collection to calculate RWIF for websites.

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