Evaluation of University Library Websites in Pakistan: Usability & Accessibility Analysis

This study aimed to evaluate university library websites in Pakistan against international standards for web usability and accessibility. It examined the usability of library websites of the top-ten Pakistani universities (as ranked by the Higher Education Commission, Pakistan) according to the guideline checklist provided by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) 9241 – standard for Ergonomics of human-system interaction -- Part 151: Guidance on World Wide Web user interfaces. In addition to usability standards, the subject websites were also examined for their level of compliance with international web accessibility standards. The heuristic evaluation method was used to assess web usability, in which representative users examined the subject websites to evaluate content design, navigation, search, content presentation, and general design aspects of library website user interfaces. Accessibility evaluation was conducted using web accessibility evaluation tools (WEATs) to check the level of conformance to international web accessibility standards, i.e., Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0). The study identified major usability and accessibility barriers of the library websites and offered recommendations based on the research findings. Suggestions for improving web usability and accessibility were also framed to communicate them to the respective organizations. This study concluded that 60% of library websites satisfied the maximum ISO Usability guidelines, while the remaining 40% did not. Conversely, 50% of library websites contained serious accessibility issues. However, some major usability components were found missing, which certainly affected users’ ability to use these websites effectively. Ascertaining the accessibility of the subject websites, it was observed that multiple issues regarding “priority A” (an ISO standard) level accessibility were found, meaning that some “special persons” would find it impossible to use these websites. Developers must resolve these issues to enable all users to access website content easily. Half of the total websites (50 per cent) were in much better condition. However, there were Priority AA (an ISO standard) and AAA (another ISO standard) level issues on almost all of the studied websites. Categorically, it is found that all studied websites share common usability problems that require the serious attention of both website developers and professional librarians to make their websites more usable and effective.