The accessibility of New Zealand public libraries to people who are blind or vision impaired

Abstract

This study looks at the accessibility of New Zealand public library Web sites to people who are blind or vision impaired. Selected pages of fifteen Metro Net library Web sites were run through Bobby, an automated evaluation tool that assesses accessibility. The results of the reports generated were used to select six Web sites for evaluation by nine users with a range of vision impairments. Three use screen-readers, three use screen-magnifiers and three have low vision but do not use adaptive technology. The experiences of the three groups were compared. Participants were asked to rank the Web sites from most accessible to least accessible. These rankings were compared with those resulting from the automatic evaluation. The libraries were asked to provide their Web policies to see if accessibility is mentioned. Participants were able to complete most of the set tasks. Those using screen-readers took the longest to complete the tasks, and those who do not use adaptive technology the shortest amount of time. The ranking of the Web sites was closest to the Bobby ranking for those who use screen-readers. There was no relationship in the rankings for either those who use screen-magnification or those who do not use adaptive technology and the Bobby ranking. Only three libraries supplied a Web policy. Accessibility was mentioned briefly in two of these.