Digital libraries are important champions of equity, accessibility, and inclusion. This paper investigates the structural barriers, biases, design elements, and social contexts that contribute to the experiences of people with disabilities as they engage in online library environments. We posit that true accessibility demands more than minimum compliance with digital accessibility standards. To provide an accessible experience, libraries must adopt a user-centered approach through the lens of justice and the social model of understanding disability. Our review identifies the following key themes: the influence of a pedagogy of care on creating a culture of belonging; the opportunities and challenges inherent in digitization; the liminal and flexible nature of digital library spaces; and the influence of ableism, socioeconomic barriers, and technological barriers in shaping access. We highlight the importance of including patrons with disabilities in design and evaluation, and we address the culture of immediacy that reinforces exclusion. We conclude with implications for practice, stressing collaborative relationships, strong evaluation practices, equity initiatives, and research goals that prioritize the lived experiences of library users with disabilities. Ultimately, accessible digital libraries require community partnership and recognition that disability is a complex lived experience.
Largess et al. (Tue,) studied this question.