2020 Conference Sessions
eBook Accessibility for Print-Disabled Patrons
Start Date
4-18-2020 5:00 PM
Description
eBooks present a variety of opportunities and challenges for library services, and one aspect of this is making eBooks accessible to patrons with print disabilities and/or visual impairments. In my presentation, I will discuss the services currently in use in public libraries, like screen readers and statewide Talking Book Libraries, and I will describe how eBook formats can support accessibility in additional ways. These examples will illuminate a set of current best practices. Then, I will analyze the gaps in these practices and suggest ways in which libraries can address these challenges.
Next, I will focus on audiobooks—which can be checked out as eBooks as well as other formats, like CDs and playaways—and discuss some concerns arising from practices in the publishing industry regarding licensing. I will also address other issues, like how audiobooks (or other text-to-speech options) can adequately describe photographs or charts in print books.
Given the relatively recent rise in popularity of comic books and graphic novels, I also explore how these best practices can be applied to make visual information in these books accessible to print-disabled patrons. I use the audiobook of the graphic novel, “Nimona,” as a case study of some innovations, influenced by fiction podcasts and radio plays, used to represent action or visual gags not illustrated through dialogue.
The benefits of pursuing these issues apply to other contexts as well: special collections libraries can provide alt text for their digital visual materials (e.g., maps, data, etc.); adjustable playback speeds on audiobooks are helpful for language learners; and able-bodied patrons can equally enjoy audiobooks of graphic novels.
However, the most difficult challenges to overcome are licensing and digital rights management. hope to present ways that, through partnerships with non-profits and the authors themselves, libraries can advocate for greater access and accessibility to eBooks.
eBook Accessibility for Print-Disabled Patrons
eBooks present a variety of opportunities and challenges for library services, and one aspect of this is making eBooks accessible to patrons with print disabilities and/or visual impairments. In my presentation, I will discuss the services currently in use in public libraries, like screen readers and statewide Talking Book Libraries, and I will describe how eBook formats can support accessibility in additional ways. These examples will illuminate a set of current best practices. Then, I will analyze the gaps in these practices and suggest ways in which libraries can address these challenges.
Next, I will focus on audiobooks—which can be checked out as eBooks as well as other formats, like CDs and playaways—and discuss some concerns arising from practices in the publishing industry regarding licensing. I will also address other issues, like how audiobooks (or other text-to-speech options) can adequately describe photographs or charts in print books.
Given the relatively recent rise in popularity of comic books and graphic novels, I also explore how these best practices can be applied to make visual information in these books accessible to print-disabled patrons. I use the audiobook of the graphic novel, “Nimona,” as a case study of some innovations, influenced by fiction podcasts and radio plays, used to represent action or visual gags not illustrated through dialogue.
The benefits of pursuing these issues apply to other contexts as well: special collections libraries can provide alt text for their digital visual materials (e.g., maps, data, etc.); adjustable playback speeds on audiobooks are helpful for language learners; and able-bodied patrons can equally enjoy audiobooks of graphic novels.
However, the most difficult challenges to overcome are licensing and digital rights management. hope to present ways that, through partnerships with non-profits and the authors themselves, libraries can advocate for greater access and accessibility to eBooks.
