Leadership at the American Library Association and accessibility: a critical view

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to take a critical view at leadership of the American Library Association (ALA) and discuss the extent to which its policies promote, or fail to promote, a barrier-free online library environment. Design/methodology/approach - Analyses selected ALA policies, and examines the degree to which accessibility advocating groups within ALA participate in the process of policy making. Findings - Several ALA policies and guidelines dealing with digital resources neglect to address the needs of users with disabilities. The organizations within ALA that are advocates for people with disabilities, particularly the Libraries Serving Special Populations Section (LSSPS) and the Accessibility Assembly, fail to pay attention to policy development in other ALA branches. Practical implications - Suitable ALA organizations should establish a clearinghouse providing easy access to vendor-supplied information as well as pointers to data collected by independent researchers. Advocates for people with disabilities within ALA need to band together and put in place an organizational structure (a kind of watchdog group) that enables them to systematically monitor, and, if deemed necessary, to respond to the policies and guidelines drafted by other ALA groups. Originality/value - This is the only article that takes a critical view at ALA's leadership and discusses the extent to which ALA's policies promote, or fail to promote, a barrier-free online library environment.