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The chapter provides instruction on how public libraries can improve the services that they provide to community members with print-related disabilities.

A combination of methods was used (interview, survey, document analysis, usability testing, and expert inspection), to investigate the current level of service provided to community members who are blind or low vision by the Baltimore County Public Library, in five areas:

1. Web Accessibility and Maintenance

2. Staff Awareness and Training

3. Physical Environment of the Library

4. Library offerings, including databases, materials, and equipment: what we have now and what we should have

5. Marketing materials: what, how, and where to be more visible

In all five areas, there were important findings about current barriers to accessibility, and suggestions for improvement in the future were made in the chapter.

The chapter details the steps taken by a large public library system, in a challenging budget environment, with changing leadership, to make improvements in the quality of service provided to people who are blind or low vision.

In the past, people with print-related disabilities were often referred to the Maryland State Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. However, over time, the nature of materials acquisitions at public libraries has changed. A large percentage of materials acquired by public libraries is now in digital format, which provides an opportunity for public libraries to start providing services to people with print disabilities.

The purpose of this paper is to present findings of a study which examined the searching experience of university students with a print disability and their use of screen reading software to navigate three proprietary databases.

Participants completed a series of tasks in three different online databases using their screen‐reading software. Screen‐recording software provided video and audio documentation of the process. Survey data were collected pre‐ and post‐study as well as after each database search session.

The paper provides insights on the information‐seeking behavior of students with print disabilities as well as the barriers encountered while navigating online databases using screen‐reading software.

The study focuses only on a small sample of university students with print disabilities and therefore lacks a control group of non‐print‐disabled students against which the results could be measured.

Database vendors are aware of the barriers their databases pose for users of screen readers. It is in the best interest of vendors to assist libraries in promoting the accessible features that already exist in their databases. Libraries can assist students by providing database instruction tailored to users of screen readers and by assisting database vendors in usability feedback and in marketing options.

Participants consisted of students with learning, visual and mobility disabilities and who were native users of screen‐reading software. There is a lack of research on the intersection of databases design and its impacts on the information literacy skills of students with print disabilities. This paper provides some insights on the first step in the information‐seeking process (gathering information) by students with a print disability and the barriers encountered.

The purpose of this paper is to explore a topic where blind participants expressed significant concern: obtaining full text and accessible full text.

This qualitative study includes 18 open-ended telephone interviews with blind academic library users in the USA. The study uses the viewpoint that understanding blind peoples’ perspectives is essential for equal accessibility.

Locating full text via link resolvers seemed problematic. Inaccessible articles and complications and delays creating accessible versions of print books limited participants’ use of materials. Enabling technologies and services were highlighted.

Caution should be used when generalizing from this study due to its sample size and methodology. The study is not a web accessibility test, which would analyze coding, nor a usability test, which would observe users. Additional research would be ideal; however, libraries should not wait to attend to accessibility.

In addition to improving digital accessibility, to address difficulty obtaining full text, libraries could offer to locate full text for blind users and implement SmartLinking and single sign on authentication. To deal with inaccessible full text, libraries could work with disability offices to obtain accessible materials and to convert materials to accessible format. DRM free HTML or EPUB e-books can have accessibility advantages. Outsourcing conversion to accessible format can also help. Libraries could offer reader service to assist blind users locating relevant sections of books to convert.

Compared to previous studies, this study includes a larger number of blind screen reader users; describes some unique issues; and includes blind users’ own interpretations.

The chapter Technological Advances in Special Education provides information on advances of technology and how such technological advances have influenced students with disabilities and special education across the globe. The chapter presents technological advances that benefited students with disabilities in developed countries as well as potential technologies to support students with disabilities in developing countries. The scant exiting literature on developing countries suggests some universal themes regarding technology for students with disabilities including access and training. Additional attention and research is needed on assistive technology to support students with disabilities in both developed and developing countries, with recognition that what works is developed counties may not work in developing.

Some of the usability and accessibility problems of search interfaces emanate from poorly organized search results, where different types of metadata are employed. Metadata is important to make well-informed selection of resources. However, putting too much of it on search interfaces could be counterproductive. Therefore, studies suggest that metadata-related decisions need to be informed by user requirements. The purpose of this paper is to explore library metadata from usability and accessibility perspectives. It identifies search-related problems users with print disability face and explores how metadata-related decisions could be tailored to improve their experience in resource discovery and access.

A questionnaire was posted online for two months. It targeted people with print disability who are using the audiobook app Lydhør. It was finally possible to gather responses from 113 respondents. Two open-ended questions dealing with search and metadata issues were selected for qualitative analysis.

Most respondents mentioned the Lydhør’s intolerance to spelling errors as a problem. Some suggested the use of faceted metadata, such as genres, for exploratory search to offset frustration caused by spelling errors. Most respondents indicated the importance of summaries to be shown among search results, implying their significance for lookup searches. There have been few demands related to accessibility metadata.

This study could be a valuable input for inclusive/universal design of library search interfaces.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) mandates that library programs and services must be accessible to people with disabilities. In an era in which much information resides in digitalized form on the WWW, the ADA’s mandate must be interpreted as applying not only to physical space but also to cyberspace. Just as in the physical world, proper design is a crucial issue. Only accessibly designed Web pages ensure that all people, including those with print disabilities, have access to Web‐based information. Previous studies indicate that a large proportion of campus and university library Web pages are not accessible. This study looks at the universities that, according to US News & World Report, have the nation’s 24 most highly ranked schools of library and information science (SLIS). The findings give cause for concern. It is reasonable to assume that low Web page accessibility at the nation’s leading library schools reflects a lack of awareness about this issue among the leaders and trainers in the library profession.

This research aims to study the coping experience of visually impaired (VI) bankers in India after they have received reasonable accommodation from their employers, that is, the work process or environment has been suitably modified to ensure a barrier-free environment for them.

Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 12 VI bankers working with public sector banks in India. A phenomenological approach was adopted during data analysis.

Despite the provision of reasonable accommodations, VI employees often find it difficult to fulfill their job responsibilities. This is on account of extensive paperwork required for completion of their jobs and the partially accessible information systems available to them. As a result, these VI employees are found resorting to workarounds to carry out their jobs, with the nature of workarounds adopted varying with the type and extent of visual impairment. Furthermore, it is observed that VI employees require social support not only from their superiors and peers but also from their subordinates and customers to carry out their tasks.

Data collection was done through snowball sampling which could have resulted in sampling bias. Due to confidentiality issues, observation of workarounds in practice by VI employees could not be carried out as part of the study.

The study contributes to the literature on integration of persons with disabilities (PwDs) by examining their coping experience after provision of reasonable accommodations. It emphasizes the role of workarounds, an under-studied area in PwD integration, as well as support of other stakeholders in the experience.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) mandates that all library services, programs and activities be accessible to people with disabilities. Web‐based indexes and databases have become a major staple in today's academic libraries. This study aims to investigate the accessibility and usability of these online resources for people using adaptive software to interface with computers.

Database interfaces were evaluated with two different methods: Selected screens of the interfaces were checked for compliance with major Section 508 and web Content Accessibility Guidelines components; and involving minimally trained subjects to carry out routine search‐related tasks, the interfaces were tested for functionality when used along with adaptive software commonly employed by people with print disabilities. Content accessibility within documents was judged based on document format.

The results indicate that, while most indexes and databases are now largely compliant with common accessibility standards and permit the performance of common search tasks, their actual user‐friendliness for people with disabilities tends to be low.

Future research could benefit from closer attention to the degree of difficulty involved in performing search tasks and to the accessibility of document content.

Usability information, provided for each of the 37 evaluated databases, helps librarians make better informed procurement decisions, offers guidance to those vendors willing to design more inclusive products, and alerts those who assist users of screen readers or audio browsers to the potential difficulties involved in searching specific library databases.

This is the first published study that systematically explores the accessibility of the major library databases for people with disabilities.

The purpose of this paper is to facilitate the spread of accessible e-books, especially ones of STEM much more in developing countries, an efficient/systematic scheme to localize tools for producing/reading them should be established. Furthermore, even in many advanced countries, Print-disabled people still do not have a good tool to write a content including technical notations such as mathematical formulas in their own local language. This work is aimed at giving a practical solution for those problems.

Here, multilingual support in a tool to produce accessible STEM contents and its new localization scheme are discussed.

It is shown that the accessible STEM-document editor can be customized easily for print-disabled people so that they can read and author a material including complicated technical notations in their own local language. The localization for Vietnamese and other various languages actually has been worked on.

The Vietnamese version was completed, and some prototype versions for the other languages were also given. It is expected that the software can contribute to improve STEM accessibility much more in many countries.

Facilities such as FabLabs and Makerspaces are characterized by the facilities' wide range of digital fabrication technologies as well as facilities' interdisciplinary user base and collaborative problem solving and product development. These possibilities can also hold great potential for people with disabilities who have a specific need for assistive technology. Since there are no established models of such participatory development processes (PDP) within digitalized innovation environments (DIE), this study intends to provide a comprehensive understanding of these processes along with the influencing factors.

Through a cooperation with a Thalidomide Association, various PDPs were accompanied within a DIE and interviews were conducted with 16 stakeholders involved. Hereby, the perspective of thalidomide-affected people (5) as well as the supporting makers (6) and experts (5) were taken into account. Through a subsequent structured analysis, various dimensions as well as relevant influencing factors could be identified.

In total, 33 paraphrases could be formed in 8 categories and four dimensions concerning the PDPs investigated. In addition, 17 paraphrases on potentials and challenges could be extracted through generalization.

Due to findings' holistic approach, the findings form an empirical basis for further research into this still very young research topic and represent a first step toward theory building. By the applicability of the identified influencing factors an important contribution can be made to the supply of aids and the inclusion of people with disabilities.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon 10.1108/JET-01-2022-0013