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A serendipitous meeting of minds: the background to the eBook accessibility audit (UK Higher Education)

Watson, Ben (2016) A serendipitous meeting of minds: the background to the eBook accessibility audit (UK Higher Education). ALISS Quarterly, 12 (1). pp. 24-26. ISSN 1747-9258. (KAR id:58355)

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Abstract

Obtaining materials in alternative formats can be a costly and extremely time-consuming exercise. Where an electronically accessible resource cannot be found, a catalogue of interventions is precipitated in order to deliver an alternative format. The easiest way to resolve this would be to depend on existing mainstream methods of delivery (e.g. standard commercial eBook platforms) to offer inclusive access to all of our users at once. Sadly, there are currently no guarantees that the eBook platforms we subscribe to deliver a consistent standard of accessibility and even where such features exist they are not always well promoted. The eBook accessibility audit, which launched in August 2016 (a joint project of UK Higher Education Institution (HEI) disability and library services), supports a mainstreaming approach by seeking to introduce a benchmark for accessibility in eBook platforms. This will allow us, for the first time, to measure basic accessibility functionality and guide platform improvement towards the goal of implementing a meaningful minimum standard of accessibility for mainstream platforms.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled keywords: EBooks; accessibility; mainstreaming
Subjects: Z Bibliography. Library Science. Information Resources > Z665 Library Science. Information Science
Divisions: Central Services > Information Services
Central Services > Office of the Vice-Chancellor
Depositing User: Ben Watson
Date Deposited: 03 Nov 2016 10:54 UTC
Last Modified: 17 Aug 2022 12:21 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/58355 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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