Academic libraries' social media posts related to disabilities: A review of libraries' tweets in terms of their content and accessibility

Abstract

Many academic libraries have active social media accounts, using them to promote content and provide timely information to their users. Social media can, however, present both potential opportunities and challenges for users with disabilities, both in terms of learning about a library's offerings, and being able to successfully access the full content of these posts. As such, this study focused on identifying and analyzing Twitter posts from academic libraries pertaining to disabilities over a five-year period (2017–2021). This analysis looked at basic descriptive information about these tweets as a whole, as well as more detailed examination of their content, including text, images, and accessibility considerations. Within the identified set of tweets, we found a wide variety of content promoted by libraries, and a seemingly strong impact of the pandemic on the tweets' contents. In terms of accessibility, we found a notable increase in use of alt text over the five-year period, but also important omissions within the provided alt text, and also areas for additional investigation in terms of language and images used in these posts. This work reveals insights into academic libraries' use of social media, and considerations for how academic libraries can approach social media posts moving forward, particularly for content pertaining to disabilities.