The book “A Systematic Review Of The Literature Concerning The Accessibility Of Library Websites” is the product of our research study submitted as a project in the Department of Library and Information Science, Punjabi University, Patiala; as an essential requirement for the completion of the doctoral degree. The ethical obligation of a library professional to ensure that all users have equitable access to the collection and services of the library drives our motivation to work in this field. A disabled or visually impaired person always requires extra support and encouragement to learn to rely on themselves, build the strength to get above their disability and satisfy their informational demands. Additionally, the internet and websites are crucial for creating, preserving, and disseminating knowledge. Internet access is therefore currently essential for getting information. Even though there are several assistive technologies available in this day and age of technical innovation that can readily make a website and its contents accessible to users with disabilities, the situation can occasionally become more challenging due to restrictions like copyright law. To date, a number of actions have been adopted and put into effect to guarantee equal access to the web for those with disabilities, including treaties, legislation, ordinances, and guidelines. This book gives you a basic grasp of web accessibility, associated problems, enacted legislation and agreements, and international standards in this area. To comprehend current research trends on web accessibility, a comprehensive analysis of the prior literature on the accessibility of websites (mostly library websites) is included as a core theme of the book. The situation of web accessibility in India was also highlighted, along with a branch of Indian initiatives.
Chapter Summary
We have started the book by providing a background overview of the human rights to acquire knowledge & information, the special requirement of disabled users, international laws & treaties, web accessibility and W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines in Chapter 1. The conflict between the Copyright Act, the Fair Use doctrine, and the Copyright exception for the disabled is illustrated in Chapter 2 of the book. This chapter also discusses the Marrakesh VIP Treaty (MVT), which is a crucial component and generally acknowledged copyright exception treaty, along with the Accessible Publishing and Accessible Books Consortium (ABC). Chapter 3 goes into detail about the three primary accessibility gudelines with detailed description of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), including its significance, target audiences, versions, layer, and guidelines. In order to establish a fundamental comparison between the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Section 508, and WCAG, Section 508 and the ADA touched briefly. Later on in this chapter, a subset of automated accessibility evaluation tools is also covered. This book’s Chapter 4 describes how to organise and carry out a systematic literature review (SLR). The SLR’s requirements, aims, involved search approach, and inclusion and exclusion criteria are all explained in this chapter. The literature review, which is methodically carried out by adhering to the logical method of learning, was discussed in Chapter 5 of this book (general to specific). This chapter reviews existing studies on the web accessibility of e-Government websites before focusing on websites for educational institutions and libraries. Chapter 6 discusses the executive summary of all 40 researches that have been reviewed. The study was wrapped up in Chapter 8 after Chapter 7 described steps being taken in India to make information more accessible to people with disabilities.
