[Athen] Quality assurance in alternate format book repositories

[Mark Weiler via athen-list]

In an earlier July thread to the group, Susan Kelmer raised an important topic about quality of books in alternate format repositories.  Susan wrote: "I may sound like a broken record, but Bookshare files are of questionable quality in most circumstances, with a vast array of missing information and a lack of formatting that is normally expected as a standard in an accessible file."

As a Web & UX librarian, book reading experiences are very important to overall library experiences.  Recently I was a co-chair of an assessment working group looking at the Accessible Content eRepository (ACE) in the Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL).   (disclosure: I work at a library within the OCUL consortium). The report stated: "Although eBooks and journal articles are now expected to meet accessibility standards3, ACE books do not"  and "ACE does not offer quality assurance for remediation."

Since then,  I've heard OCUL has adopted recommendations from the report. I note they are working on a project to support remediation<https://ocul.on.ca/aiml-program> with ACE.

Any comments or thoughts about quality assurance programs at alternate book format repositories out there?


Mark Weiler, PhD (he & him)
JAWS certified and Web Accessibility Specialist
Web & User Experience Librarian
Wilfrid Laurier University
Waterloo, Ontario
548-889-5056
Notices
Upcoming Laurier Library workshops & events<https://library.wlu.ca/events>

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