Institutional, Legal, and Attitudinal Barriers to the Accessibility of University Digital Libraries

2017 ◽  
pp. 223-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sushil K. Oswal
Keyword(s):  
User Interfaces ◽  
Digital Libraries ◽  
The United States ◽  
Access To Higher Education ◽  
Attitudinal Barriers ◽  
Legal Standards ◽  
Research And Teaching ◽  
Knowledge Repositories ◽  
Accessibility Barriers ◽  
The Impact

This chapter takes a look at the impact of accessibility barriers to today's digital libraries on disabled students' ability to succeed and considers the wider institutional implications of such barriers in light of disability laws in the United States. It analyzes the implications of these barriers from the broader institutional policy perspective in improving the access to higher education for users with print disabilities. The author concludes by reiterating that achieving technical accessibility through adherence to industry or legal standards alone is not adequate for making usable research and teaching libraries available to students and scholars with print disabilities. The author also emphasizes that engaging actual disabled users both in the design and development stages of the platforms, user interfaces, and content presentation schemas for these knowledge repositories is of utmost importance.

Institutional, Legal, and Attitudinal Barriers to the Accessibility of University Digital Libraries

2020 ◽  
pp. 123-141
Author(s):  
Sushil K. Oswal
Keyword(s):  
User Interfaces ◽  
Digital Libraries ◽  
The United States ◽  
Access To Higher Education ◽  
Attitudinal Barriers ◽  
Legal Standards ◽  
Research And Teaching ◽  
Knowledge Repositories ◽  
Accessibility Barriers ◽  
The Impact

This chapter takes a look at the impact of accessibility barriers to today's digital libraries on disabled students' ability to succeed and considers the wider institutional implications of such barriers in light of disability laws in the United States. It analyzes the implications of these barriers from the broader institutional policy perspective in improving the access to higher education for users with print disabilities. The author concludes by reiterating that achieving technical accessibility through adherence to industry or legal standards alone is not adequate for making usable research and teaching libraries available to students and scholars with print disabilities. The author also emphasizes that engaging actual disabled users both in the design and development stages of the platforms, user interfaces, and content presentation schemas for these knowledge repositories is of utmost importance.

scholarly journals To Speak or Not to Speak: Developing Legal Standards for Anonymous Speech on the Internet

10.28945/2526 ◽  
2002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomas A. Lipinski
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Legal Standards ◽  
Potential Problems ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
History Of ◽  
Education And Employment ◽  
The Impact

This paper explores recent developments in the regulation of Internet speech, in specific, injurious or defamatory speech and the impact such speech has on the rights of anonymous speakers to remain anonymous as opposed to having their identity revealed to plaintiffs or other third parties. The paper proceeds in four sections. First, a brief history of the legal attempts to regulate defamatory Internet speech in the United States is presented. As discussed below this regulation has altered the traditional legal paradigm of responsibility and as a result creates potential problems for the future of anonymous speech on the Internet. As a result plaintiffs are no longer pursuing litigation against service providers but taking their dispute directly to the anonymous speaker. Second, several cases have arisen in the United States where plaintiffs have requested the identity of the anonymous Internet speaker be revealed. These cases are surveyed. Third, the cases are analyzed in order to determine the factors that courts require to be present before the identity of an anonymous speaker will be revealed. The release is typically accomplished by the enforcement of a discovery subpoena issued by the moving party. The factors courts have used are as follows: jurisdiction, good faith (both internal and external), necessity (basic and sometimes absolute), and at times proprietary interest. Finally, these factors are applied in three scenarios—e-commerce, education, and employment—to guide institutions when adopting policies that regulate when the identity of an anonymous speaker— a customer, a student or an employee—would be released as part of an internal initiative, but would nonetheless be consistent with developing legal standards.

scholarly journals The Biodiversity Heritage Library Response to the Global COVID-19 Pandemic

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Kalfatovic ◽  
Constance Rinaldo ◽  
Jane Smith ◽  
David Iggulden ◽  
Colleen Funkhouser
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Digital Libraries ◽  
The United States ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Natural Ecosystem ◽  
Virtual Collaboration ◽  
The North ◽  
User Comments ◽  
National Organizations ◽  
The Impact

The global onset of the COVID-19 pandemic began in January 2020. In February, many academic and research institutions began to move to a telework environment. By March, many borders had been closed and nearly all institutions fully transitioned to telework. With their institutions closed and travel shut down, researchers lacked access to both specimen collections as well as the library and archives material needed to continue productive research. Preliminary research on the impact of COVID-19 on the research enterprise has been published. In the United States, the impact on federally funded research has been documented in Effects of COVID-19 on the Federal Research and Development Enterprise (Morgan and Sargent Jr. 2020). Likewise, What Happens to the Continuity and Future of the Research Enterprise? (Coalition for Networked Information 2020) is an initial appraisal of issues and concerns within the North American academic and research environment. Library and archives staff were limited in their access to collections-based work and needed valuable and impactful telework. The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) was founded as a global, dispersed, and virtual library and thus was well-suited to continue to provide service to teleworking researchers as well as telework tasks for staff at BHL's partner institutions. Examples of the telework projects include enhancing BHL metadata, and uploading BHL illustrations to the BHL Flickr collection. BHL makes critical information available thanks to all of the partners' efforts to digitize for open access. The natural strengths of the BHL virtual organization include social distancing, virtual collaboration and opening up science; the pandemic world is a natural ecosystem for BHL partners. Initial analyses of BHL use have shown a significant increase in year-over-year usage of BHL content. The preliminary statistics have shown an approximate 25% increase in usage of the BHL site. BHL has also collected anecdotal evidence in the form of user comments and direct conversations with research staff at BHL partner institutions. Many national or pan-national organizations and projects were instigated to examine the impact of COVID-19 on library and archives materials. One key project that some BHL partners participated in is Reopening Archives, Libraries, and Museums (REALM) Information Hub: A COVID-19 Research Project. With most BHL partners pausing all digitization around the February-March 2020 time period, outcomes from studies such as REALM will assist partners in understanding when it will be safe for digitization to restart. This presentation will cover how usage of BHL changed from early 2020 to the present, showing trends and significant impact. The pivot of many BHL partner staff to improve BHL content and metadata for their local users as well as the global biodiversity community will be documented. Also covered will be the enhanced impact of digital libraries, such as BHL, in both the short and long terms along with lessons learned for expanded virtual open access for library collections supporting biodiversity and museum research.

What Americans think of international humanitarian law

2011 ◽  
Vol 93 (884) ◽  
pp. 1009-1034 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brad A. Gutierrez ◽  
Sarah DeCristofaro ◽  
Michael Woods
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Prisoners Of War ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
United States Foreign Policy ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Legal Standards ◽  
Standards Of Conduct ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThe United States' foreign policy in the first decade of the twenty-first century and its involvement in armed conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have given rise to a reinvigorated interest in international humanitarian law (IHL), commonly referred to in the United States as the law of armed conflict. Conversations about whether to classify detainees as prisoners of war, debates about what constitutes torture, and numerous surveys attempting to measure the public's knowledge about and views on the rules of war are offering an opportunity to examine Americans' views on IHL. This article will reflect on those views, providing numerous examples to illustrate the complexities encountered when near universally accepted legal standards of conduct are layered upon the fluid and unpredictable realities of modern warfare. The article will also highlight the impact that battlefield activities can have on domestic debates over policy choices and national conscience.

What Does a Doctoral Degree in Rehabilitation Counseling Bring to Speech-Language Pathology Programs?

2012 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 63-69
Author(s):  
Joseph P. Agan
Keyword(s):  
Rehabilitation Counseling ◽  
Doctoral Degree ◽  
Interdisciplinary Studies ◽  
Master's Level ◽  
Speech Language Pathology ◽  
Research And Teaching ◽  
Personal Experiences ◽  
Language Pathology ◽  
Interdisciplinary Study ◽  
The Impact

In this paper, I will describe the potential contributions of interdisciplinary studies combining speech-language pathology and rehabilitation counseling in the preparation of future speech-language pathologists (SLPs). I will provide a brief introduction to the field of rehabilitation counseling and consider it from an SLP’s perspective. Next, I will describe some of my own personal experiences as they pertain to the intersecting cultures of work and disability and how these experiences influenced my practice as a master’s level SLP eventually leading to my decision to pursue a doctoral degree in rehabilitation counseling. I will describe the impact of this line of interdisciplinary study on my research and teaching. Finally, I will present some arguments about why concepts relevant to rehabilitation counseling are important to the mindset of SLPs.

Demonstrating Nutrient Cost Gradients: A Brooklyn Case Study

2014 ◽  
Vol 84 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 244-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Karp ◽  
Gary Wong ◽  
Marguerite Orsi
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Energy Content ◽  
Food Selection ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Department ◽  
Micronutrient Deficiencies ◽  
Caloric Density ◽  
Low Income Families ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Introduction: Foods dense in micronutrients are generally more expensive than those with higher energy content. These cost-differentials may put low-income families at risk of diminished micronutrient intake. Objectives: We sought to determine differences in the cost for iron, folate, and choline in foods available for purchase in a low-income community when assessed for energy content and serving size. Methods: Sixty-nine foods listed in the menu plans provided by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for low-income families were considered, in 10 domains. The cost and micronutrient content for-energy and per-serving of these foods were determined for the three micronutrients. Exact Kruskal-Wallis tests were used for comparisons of energy costs; Spearman rho tests for comparisons of micronutrient content. Ninety families were interviewed in a pediatric clinic to assess the impact of food cost on food selection. Results: Significant differences between domains were shown for energy density with both cost-for-energy (p < 0.001) and cost-per-serving (p < 0.05) comparisons. All three micronutrient contents were significantly correlated with cost-for-energy (p < 0.01). Both iron and choline contents were significantly correlated with cost-per-serving (p < 0.05). Of the 90 families, 38 (42 %) worried about food costs; 40 (44 %) had chosen foods of high caloric density in response to that fear, and 29 of 40 families experiencing both worry and making such food selection. Conclusion: Adjustments to USDA meal plans using cost-for-energy analysis showed differentials for both energy and micronutrients. These differentials were reduced using cost-per-serving analysis, but were not eliminated. A substantial proportion of low-income families are vulnerable to micronutrient deficiencies.

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