AccessiBod: Widening access to Digital Bodleian
Bodleian Bytes
Digitised special collections such as manuscripts, archives and photographs are rarely made accessible to people who are blind or have low vision, but this does not mean they are not interested in accessing such materials or that they have no need for access in order to pursue their studies, research, work or pleasure. The cultural heritage and academic sectors could do more to expand access for blind and low vision people, but research is needed to understand what blind and low vision people want to know about digital cultural heritage, and what methods and resources are required to achieve access.
In this talk, Dr Victoria Van Hyning, Assistant Professor of Library Innovation at University of Maryland, College of Information, will report key findings from ‘AccessiBod: Exploring Accessible Futures for Digital Bodleian’, a participatory design study conducted at the Bodleian Libraries in 2025 to understand how crowdsourcing, AI, curatorial metadata and scholarly expertise might be harnessed to create better access within the Digital Bodleian site. Bodleian Libraries curators, digital scholarship specialists, web developers, students, disability services specialists and faculty from across the collegiate University and the broader Oxford community participated in interviews and workshops.
The findings and recommendations shared in this talk will be germane to Digital Bodleian as well as wider cultural heritage and digital humanities practice. We all have a role to play in widening access to digital cultural heritage and the web more broadly, and even small changes can make a big difference.
This is the latest talk in the Bodleian Bytes series, hosted by the Centre for Digital Scholarship at the Bodleian Libraries.
Speaker Biography
Victoria Van Hyning is Assistant Professor of Library Innovation at University of Maryland, College of Information. She holds an MSt in Medieval English Literature (Oxford), and doctorate in Early Modern English literature (Sheffield). She led DH development for crowdsourcing platforms Zooniverse.org (Oxford) and By The People at the Library of Congress. Some of her current research focuses on accessibility of cultural heritage for people with disabilities. In Michaelmas 2025 she undertook a Gale Oxford Digital Humanities Fellowship called ‘AccessiBod: Exploring Accessible Futures for Digital Bodleian’ to research the needs of blind and low vision users (or potential users) of Digital Bodleian, a repository of digitised special collections.
Dr Victoria Van Hyning
Photo credit: Craig Taylor, University of Maryland
Bodleian Bytes
Bodleian Bytes is a series of online talks hosted by the Centre for Digital Scholarship at the Bodleian Libraries. The series engages with innovative national and international research in digital scholarship. It is a virtual space for discussions surrounding different tools and methodologies whilst also providing inspiration for future digital research.
