An accessible user experience study of a library research guide
The Publication
Authors: Lisa Campbell and Brittany Kester
Journal: Weave: Journal of Library User Experience
Abstract: Library practitioners can use digital accessibility standards to inform and evaluate accessible design, but how can we ensure online learning objects, such as library research guides, are both accessible and usable for students with disabilities? This is the research question that drove our accessible user experience study. Six undergraduate students with diverse disabilities completed the study. While all participants found our guide to be usable, it was not fully accessible to them. We outline our methodology, including considerations for involving participants with disabilities, and discuss our findings and limitations, so that our readers can consider the use of accessible user experience testing in their work.
Collaborators:
Brittany Kester
Beth Roland
Muhammad Rehman
Swapna Kumar
Project Duration:
January 2020 – April 2023
The Project
Is our multimodal library research guide accessible and usable for students with disabilities?
Earned an internal libraries grant for a graduate student intern to assist in the evaluation of accessibility of a library research guide.
Designed the research project and gained IRB approval.
Planned, prepared, and conducted an accessible user experience study with six participants of diverse disabilities (with accessible considerations in mind).
Transcribed and coded the recordings using deductive thematic analysis (qualitative analysis) using accessibility and usability standards as categories.
Created accessible video tutorials and revised guide to improve accessibility and usability.
Shared our work with researchers, educators, and library practitioners interested in accessible user experiences at the international Library Assessment Conference and American Educational Research Association Conference.
Wrote and submitted article for expert peer-review, and then openly published our research in the scholarly journal: Weave: Journal Of Library User Experience.
Created personal web page about project.
Lisa Campbell 