Accessibility Analysis of Digital Libraries and Specialized Library Resources

Abstract

Objective. The article focuses on the current state of library web content accessibility. Methods. 56 library websites of different countries (27 digital libraries and 29 specialized library resources for people with disabilities) have been successfully tested for the compliance with the WCAG 2.1 standards using the Webaccessibility.com service. Using the Alexa.com service the comparative analysis of the websites traffic ranking has been additionally conducted. Results. It has been established that only 3 websites out of 56 meet the accessibility standards of WCAG 2.1 with the compliance score of 92%. Conclusions. It has been concluded that the libraries' current practices of providing web content accessibility are insufficient. The emphasis has been placed on the need to optimize and promote specialized library resources and to implement a continuous audit of web content accessibility by means of automatic testing and engaging users with disabilities into these processes.