Purpose

The purpose of the Accessibility Metadata and Accessible Formats Working Group is to provide guidance on representing accessibility metadata in national bibliographies and union catalogues, and on related matters such as legal deposit of accessible formats, relationships with publishers, and other providers of accessibility metadata.

Focus areas

The focus areas of the Working Group are accessibility metadata and accessible formats from the perspective of national bibliographies and the role of the national bibliographic agencies. Specifically, the Working Group’s focus is to provide guidance on representing accessibility metadata in national bibliographies. Other focuses stem from the unique contexts of the national bibliographic agencies permitting them to be influential in the national landscape in matters related to accessibility metadata and accessible formats, including their integration into the national bibliographic control and their legal deposit.

Scope of work

The scope of work of the Accessibility Metadata and Accessible Formats Working Group is to:

  • Exchange information about existing work and accomplishments in the domain of accessibility.
  • Highlight the role and responsibility of the National Bibliographic Agencies in applying and promoting accessibility metadata.
  • Provide guidelines for the description and representation of accessibility metadata in national bibliographies.
  • Support National Bibliographic Agencies in adopting new practices for accessibility metadata.
  • Encourage National Bibliographic Agencies to strengthen their role as an interface between the publishing and library sectors in matters of accessibility.
  • Work on increasing the inclusivity of national bibliographies and library catalogues by recording and displaying accessibility metadata.
  • Promote the availability of accessible formats through national bibliographies and library catalogues.
  • Monitor the development of relevant standards and guidelines in W3C and other standardization bodies.

Membership

The Working Group is comprised from the Standing Committee members of the IFLA Bibliography Section, with possible liaisons to relevant groups and institutions both inside and outside IFLA within the scope of the Working Group’s work.

Terms of office

The Working Group is expected to be an ongoing working group to support national bibliographies in adopting sustainable workflows and up-to-date standards for recording and displaying accessibility metadata.

Reporting and communication

The Chair of the Accessibility Metadata and Accessible Formats Working Group reports to the Bibliography Section Chair. The Chair communicates about work progress in standing committee meetings and in regular progress reports, and shares inputs to update the Working Group action plan progress. As the Bibliography Section is a sponsoring committee of the IFLA Accessibility Metadata Network, the Chair of the Working Group also represents Bibliography Section in the Network.