Access a Database With Only a Broken Monitor: Nonvisual Information Access in a Visual World
Type of Presentation
Panel
Conference Strand
Diversity and Inclusion
Target Audience
Higher Education
Second Target Audience
Other
Non-student University Library Users with Visual Disability
Location
Session 4 Papers
Relevance
As we seek to widen the aperture of access to the university library's resources, we must confront and understand the barriers those with visual disabilities are facing, and the impacts of those barriers on their information-seeking ability. Better inclusive methods in our Instructional and Technology practice will lead to information literacy across a more equitable body of users.
Proposal
How best to provide those within our community greater accommodation when accessing library services is a topic hotly debated and explored by scholars of librarianship. In this presentation, a Reference Librarian (C. T. Salazar) and an Electronic Resources Librarian (Michael Emerson) from Delta State University will discuss the measures they’re taking to accommodate low-vision and blind students and faculty.
Working in the Reference and Instructional Services department, C. T. Salazar is researching the user. How does assistive technology impact the way students and faculty interact with library services such as databases and the online catalog? Working in the Electronic Resources and Information Technology department, Michael Emerson is applying this research and conducting his own to improve the Roberts-LaForge Library website and electronic resources.
As nearly one third of Mississippians over the age of 18 identify with a disability, efforts to accommodate library users with disabilities is paramount to the mission of libraries to serve their community. This presentation will be divided into two parts. In the first section C. T. Salazar will discuss common frustrations users with vision-based disability experience along with what university librarians should know about accommodation features of various databases and assistive technology. In the second section, Michael Emerson will discuss the steps he has taken with the Roberts-LaForge Library website and its electronic resources to make it more accommodating to vision-based disability, and the steps he plans to take with the website and catalog in the future.
Presentation Description
A Reference Librarian and an Electronic Services Librarian from Delta State University have been analyzing the barriers students with visual disabilities are facing, and have been implementing more inclusive practices to bring to both their instructional services and the library's website and electronic resources. Join this presentation to discuss the common frustrations and best practices for developing more accommodating information learning for university library users.
Keywords
Disabilities, databases, information-seeking behavior, accommodations, visual disability, inclusivity
Publication Type and Release Option
Event
Recommended Citation
Salazar, C. T. and Emerson, Michael S., "Access a Database With Only a Broken Monitor: Nonvisual Information Access in a Visual World" (2022). Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy. 41.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gaintlit/2022/2022/41
Access a Database With Only a Broken Monitor: Nonvisual Information Access in a Visual World
Session 4 Papers
How best to provide those within our community greater accommodation when accessing library services is a topic hotly debated and explored by scholars of librarianship. In this presentation, a Reference Librarian (C. T. Salazar) and an Electronic Resources Librarian (Michael Emerson) from Delta State University will discuss the measures they’re taking to accommodate low-vision and blind students and faculty.
Working in the Reference and Instructional Services department, C. T. Salazar is researching the user. How does assistive technology impact the way students and faculty interact with library services such as databases and the online catalog? Working in the Electronic Resources and Information Technology department, Michael Emerson is applying this research and conducting his own to improve the Roberts-LaForge Library website and electronic resources.
As nearly one third of Mississippians over the age of 18 identify with a disability, efforts to accommodate library users with disabilities is paramount to the mission of libraries to serve their community. This presentation will be divided into two parts. In the first section C. T. Salazar will discuss common frustrations users with vision-based disability experience along with what university librarians should know about accommodation features of various databases and assistive technology. In the second section, Michael Emerson will discuss the steps he has taken with the Roberts-LaForge Library website and its electronic resources to make it more accommodating to vision-based disability, and the steps he plans to take with the website and catalog in the future.
