4TH ENTRY: Comment From Reading

Article Bibliography:

Tatomir, Jennifer and Joan C. Durrance. 2010. Overcoming the information gap:
         measuring the accessibility of library databases to adaptive technology users.
         Library Hi Tech 28(4): 577-594.

Article Title : 


Overcoming the information gap : Measuring accessibility of library database to adaptive technology users.


Article Details : 


Purpose – The purpose of this study is to address problems associated with the accessibility of academic library databases.

Design/methodology/approach – This study evaluates 32 databases and measures their accessibility to users of adaptive technology.

Findings – Based on the results of this study, 72 percent of the evaluated databases were rated as marginally accessible or inaccessible, reflecting a low level of compliance to federal web accessibility legislation and international web accessibility standards. To measure database accessibility to adaptive technology users, this study operationalized accessibility into ten component parts as the Tatomir Accessibility Checklist (TAC) and tested each database on each component.

Article Summary

This article is survey done by the author to check the problem with accessibility of academic library databases whether it used or not by the library. Library face the problem when it comes to accessing academic information database despite the requirements stated in federal web accessibility legislation and international web accessibility standards.

The author evaluates the accessibility to adaptive technology users of subscription library databases commonly purchased by libraries. They also operationalizes current federal web accessibility legislation and international web accessibility standards by developing a checklist of accessible features and tests the extent to which features have been incorporated into the major databases and importantly, the effect of a feature’s presence or absence. Because online and digital environments possess the greatest potential to provide individuals using adaptive technologies access to information, to futher the research they need to subscription library databases provides concrete and conclusive evidence regarding the current state of accessibility common digital resources purchased by libraries.

By using the TAC reveal to gathered a data, several key findings regarding the state of accessibility of academic resources

• Load time record for the database are long
• The data reveal a strong positive correlation between database load time and the number of TAC features absent from a database
• Above half of the databases studied, rated as marginally accessible or inaccessible. This number remains alarmingly low given the existence of federal web accessibility laws and international web accessibility standards
• Difficult to identified the features because of poor design

Recommendations

Two areas of future research were recommended by the researchers:

• The inadequacies of adaptive technologies and a lack of access to expensive adaptive technologies represent the main barrier preventing disabled individuals from gaining unhindered and equal access to digital resources
• The research into the positive and negative outcomes for disabled individuals generated by access or lack of access to adaptive technologies and digital resources likewise constitutes an area of investigation that will help to demonstrate the importance of technological and informational access

Comment

1. This paper is publish on 2009 but are not detail out the the exactly date. To make a survey, the date are important to make sure that it can be a reference for others people to do a same study or to continue a study that already done.
2. The author use just selected 32 online database from a thounsand subscription that they have done, it show the small amount from the survey done and also not state detail about the 32 online database that have been chosen.
3. But for me this research is very helpful for librarians when considering purchasing databases for libraries, especially when the academic institution want to use this research as their references because the statistic, explanation of the data, elaboration of the key finding are easily to understand.