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

Purpose: The 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 Institu...

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Publicado en:Performance Measurement & Metrics Vol. 21; no. 3; pp. 121 - 146
Autores principales: Panda, Subhajit, Chakravarty, Rupak
Formato: equations & formulas research tables/charts Journal Article
Publicado: Emerald Publishing Limited 2020
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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        10.1108/PMM-02-2020-0011
        146948899
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        atl: Evaluating the web accessibility of IIT libraries: a study of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
      aug:
        au:
          Panda, Subhajit
          Chakravarty, Rupak
        affil: University Library, Chandigarh University, Punjab, India
      sug:
        subj:
          Colleges and Universities
          Libraries
          Access to Information
          World Wide Web
          Guideline Adherence
          Human
          India
          Internet
          Electronic Publications
          Student Knowledge
          Information Literacy
      ab: Purpose: The 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/approach: The 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. Findings: The 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 implications: The 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 implications: World 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/value: No 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.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        equations & formulas
        research
        tables/charts
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
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