Povečanje dostopnosti elektronskih knjig osebam s slepoto ali slabovidnostjo z ustreznimi postopki v procesu digitalizacije
Increasing the accessibility of e-books for the visually impaired through appropriate procedures in the digitization process

slovenian

2021

volume 65, issue 3/4

Zveza bibliotekarskih društev Slovenije
(Obvezni izvod spletne publikacije)

Purpose: In this article, we determine the experiences of visually impaired e­book us­ers in order to increase their accessibility during digitization.Methodology/approach: The survey consists of a review of relevant research, guide­lines, standards and a survey among visually impaired e­book readers in eleven Euro­pean countries. The survey took place between 20th April and 30th June 2020, covering 525 respondents who answered at least half of the questions. Quantitative analysis of the collected responses was used to interpret the results.Results: It was found that by implementing additional procedures during digitization processes would ensure better access and an efficient user experience. The emphasis was mainly on reviewing the quality of OCR recognition, implementing structure and appropriate design. It is also important to enable users to customize the displayed con­tent to their own needs and enabling a format which can be used on various devices and with help of different assistive technologies.Research limitation: Due to the different number of respondents per country, inter­pretation is only possible at the level of the total number of respondents. Due to the non­random sampling we cannot generalize results to the entire population of visually impaired e­book users. Some shortcomings of the questionnaire were also identified during the interpretation.Originality/practical implications: The research provides librarians and other interested parties with an insight into the procedures that would bring digitized material closer to the visually impaired e­book users and thus make it easier for them to participate in the society. We want to encourage all interested institutions that produce e­material, not only digitized, but also born digital, to think about this topic and make potential changes.

06.10.2022