Digital Accessibility Group

The DLF Digital Accessibility Working Group (DAWG) exists to explore issues related to ensuring that the digital resources within information organizations meet the needs of disabled users and staff. This includes:

• Surveying digital accessibility in GLAM organizations
• Facilitating information sharing and networking
• Producing and collecting resources and best practices for executing accessibility work

Means of Communication

• Zoom (video conferencing)
• Google Group
• Slack
• Wiki Page

Structure

The group consists of ongoing subgroups that focus on broad themes in accessibility practice in information organizations, as well as more area/technology specific subgroups. To ease the growing work of supporting the subgroups, two co-chairs have been added.

Policy and Workflows

The Policy and Workflows subgroup will focus on specific functional areas within information organizations. This group will do research and produce deliverables related to best practices for employment, purchasing, production, leadership, and oversight within these organizational areas. Co-chair Wendy Robertson is the liaison to Policy and Workflows.

IT and Development

The IT and Development subgroup will focus on specific software, hardware, and development practices associated with information organizations. Once a list of technologies associated with specific areas is compiled, they will begin addressing the accessibility concerns of specific entries. Co-chair Meg McMahon is the liaison to IT and Development.

Advocacy and Education

The Advocacy and Continuing Education subgroup focuses on providing resources, tools, and skills necessary for librarians, archivists, records managers, and other GLAM professionals to advocate for, as well as support accessibility within their organizations. This DAWG subgroup organizes events for presentations, demonstrations, discussions, and other learning activities for digital library practitioners working in areas relating to or intersecting with issues of accessibility and technology. Our focus is on pedagogy as advocacy, raising awareness and educating practitioners on emerging opportunities and barriers faced by disabled people, as well as ethical use of open source products, including assistive technologies.

Values

This group adheres to DLF’s Code of Conduct while also supporting the following group values:

• Equitable access to technology for disabled people is a right.
• Inclusive design is good design.
• Changes must be supported on a cultural and structural level.

Materials produced by this group will aim to be WCAG AA compliant (for more information see “Guidelines for producing documentation”). However, should you encounter barriers to accessing any of our resources, please email jasmine.l.clark@temple.edu.

This group also acknowledges the difference in ways that disability is described and discussed. As it pertains to person-first (person with a disability) vs. identity-first (disabled person) language, it is important to this group that it be acknowledged that society plays a heavy role in disabling people, while also avoiding the implication that disability is inherently negative. For this reason, identity first language will be used in our documentation. However, it is important to listen to disabled people when deciding which is appropriate to use in individual contexts. For more information on this debate, feel free to visit these resources on the subject:

• Person-First Language vs. Identity-First Language: An examination of the gains and drawbacks of Disability Language in society (Matthew Conlin, Journal of Teaching Disability Studies)
• Person-First vs. Identity-First Language (By Dr. Monica Simonsen and Dr. Cynthia Mruczek, University of Kansas Department of Special Education)
• Identity-First Language (Autistic Self Advocacy Network)

Expressed Areas of Interest

• Institutional Repositories (DSpace, Bepress, etc.)
• Publishing
• Reference management systems (Zotero, etc.)
• Digital Scholarship (Research data, tools, visualizations)
• Library Systems
• Archival Discovery Systems
• Databases and Vendors
• Digitization workflows for metadata & publishing to better conform to digital accessibility standards
• DAMS (CONTENTdm, Islandora, etc.)
• Workflows for archived Web pages and other born-digital archived material and formats
• Recorded tours of library sites using different assistive tech
• Virtual Reality (3D technologies, including Makerspace equipment)

Documentation

• Accessible Documentation
• Open Source Assistive Technologies Statement and List
• Accessibility Auditing Resources
• Accessibility Auditing Shortlist
• Zoom Accessibility

Events

• Inclusive Design and Accessible Exhibits: Some Guidance for Libraries, Galleries, and Museums