Web Accessibility Evaluation of University Library Websites in Turkey in Terms of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

Abstract

In this information age, with opportunities offered by information technologies, most of the information sources have moved to electronic environment and libraries have turned into digital libraries by serving their users in the web. In this context, library websites are the primary gateways for the users to access library information resources and services. The aim of this study is to examine university library websites in Turkey in accordance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), and to reveal the current situation regarding their accessibility. In this study, which was designed as a descriptive study, WAVE tool was used to evaluate the accessibility of library websites of 183 universities in Turkey continuing their education activities within the 2020-2021 academic year. The key findings show that all university library websites have at least one accessibility error (maximum=123), the “empty link” is the most common accessibility error (n=160), and the majority of websites (93%) have at least one accessibility contrast error. In addition, 97% of library websites have some features that are not directly considered as errors but may negatively affect accessibility. Moreover, it is observed that some library websites do not have mobile compatibility, which also negatively affects website accessibility. This study is expected to be exemplary for other studies on web accessibility in the future, and to contribute to the plans and regulations for improving the accessibility of library websites in our country.