Many users liked and used chat reference and many preferred Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) to learn citation style, though learning citation style was challenging.
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Participants agreed it would be helpful if librarians knew how to use screen readers, or at least if librarians were familiar enough with screen readers to provide relevant verbal cues. Some users expressed satisfaction with working with librarians verbally, particularly if websites did not seem screen reader user friendly, but many users preferred independence. Other times, librarians worked with users to navigate with a screen reader, which sometimes led to greater independence. Users were appreciative of librarians’ help but outcomes were not entirely positive. In some cases, blind users and librarians worked verbally without the screen reader.
A larger number of participants reported contacting a librarian because of feeling overwhelmed by the library website. High-level screen reader users requested help with specific needs. Most participants used reference librarians’ assistance, and most had positive experiences. The study approaches these topics from a user-centered perspective, with the idea that blind users themselves can provide particularly reliable insights into the issues and potential solutions that are most critical to them. She would also like to thank Laura DeLancey for her encouragement and editing assistance and PSC-CUNY for granting the funding for this project, which made the project achievable, particularly by covering transcription costs.Įighteen academic library users who are blind were interviewed about their experiences with academic libraries and the libraries’ websites using an open-ended questionnaire and recorded telephone interviews.
The author would like to thank the participants of this study for their time and willingness to openly discuss the issues they have experienced. “There is Nothing Inherently Mysterious about Assistive Technology”: A Qualitative Study about Blind User Experiences in US Academic LibrariesĪdina Mulliken ( is Assistant Professor, Librarian, Social Work and Public Health Library, Hunter College, New York, New York.
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