[Web4lib] Subscription database accessibility

[Haines, L Anne]

Hello,

The Usability Working Group here at the Indiana University Libraries has begun discussing the accessibility of our subscription databases (EBSCO Academic Search Premier, JSTOR, et al.) for users with disabilities. While the actual accessibility of these resources is of course beyond our control, we would like to provide information for our users so that, when they have a choice, they have the option to select those resources which are more accessible - or at least are alerted to any known issues.

So, two questions:

*         Has anyone taken the time to evaluate the major library databases for accessibility? We don't want to spend time conducting an evaluation if this information is already available somewhere.

*         Are any libraries providing this sort of information to their users, either via their web site or in some other fashion? One possibility would be to add icons indicating accessibility status (similar to icons which tell our users which resources are available off-campus, which require authentication, etc.) but there are probably other (and better) ways of doing this as well.
Thanks so much! Please respond directly to me and I will summarize for the list.

Anne Haines
Libraries Web Site Editor
Herman B Wells Library W501
1320 E. Tenth St.  | Bloomington, IN 47405
ahaines at indiana.edu<mailto:ahaines at indiana.edu>
AIM: IUBahaines
812-855-0103