Collaboration between the library and Office of Student Disability Services: Document accessibility in higher education
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to discuss the relationship between interdepartmental stakeholders in higher education and the information identified as a result of collaborations. It proposes that collaborations can help clarify issues to then advocate for them.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper opted for a naturalistic case study design, gathering direct and participant observation of interdepartmental collaborations including 1 Student Share, 12 one-hour collaborative sessions and 1 Accessibility Conference.
Findings
The paper provides observed insight about student needs to have documents that are accessible for assistive technologies to recognize and read how change is brought about during internal brand building. It suggests that successful accessibility implementation in higher education calls for collaboration with stakeholders.
Originality/value
This paper shows how a collaboration between the library and Student Disability Services can work to understand document accessibility issues. It also reveals that students with disabilities are adept with current mobile trends and technology, and need to be, for productivity in college. It will be valuable to librarians, faculty, staff and other technology stakeholders that work with students with disabilities.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Leonard Lief Library and Office of Student Disability Services and Veterans and Military Affairs, Lehman College. Many thanks to Lauren McCarthy, Stephanie Arriola, William Medina, Justin Perez, Sandy Holy, Merrill Parra, Kenneth Schlesinger and the students from the ATC who shared their opinions, experiences and recommendations.
Citation
Arzola, R. (2016), "Collaboration between the library and Office of Student Disability Services: Document accessibility in higher education", Digital Library Perspectives, Vol. 32 No. 2, pp. 117-126. https://doi.org/10.1108/DLP-09-2015-0016
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited