The Availability of Access for User with Disability on Digital Library

Abstract

There is necessity of attention to the availability of access for user with disability not only because it is right for them, but also their number in Indonesia showed a tendency to increase every year. Many things can cause the increase in number of people with disability in Indonesia, like congenital defects, genetic factors, and infectious diseases as well as accidents. The users with disability that is having difficulty in doing some activities, such as reading or writing in the form of a normal post, difficulty in hearing or speaking, and having obstacles in using electronic media used by normal people, desperately need support tools in order to access the collection or information in digital form. This study aims to identify the availability of access for user with disability in the digital library. The method of this research is descriptive, which tries to analyze digital library display on websites of public libraries in five major cities of Indonesia. Based on the research, we can see that almost none digital library that accommodates information needs of people with disability, even some websites, still not easy to access by normal users. In future, digital library should give a better service not only to normal users but also to users with disability.