Mae Gwasanaeth Cyflenwi Dogfennau’r llyfrgell yn cynnig amrywiaeth o wasanaethau i staff a myfyrwyr yn y brifysgol. Os oes angen deunydd hanfodol arnoch ar gyfer eich ymchwil ac ni chedwir ef yn llyfrgelloedd Prifysgol Abertawe, gallwn ei gael ar fenthyg neu gael copi ohono o lyfrgell arall i chi. Gall y Gwasanaeth Cyflenwi Dogfennau hefyd ddigideiddio cynnwys megis pennod o lyfr testun a’i gwneud yn hygyrch i fyfyrwyr drwy eu rhestr ddarllen.
Isod, mae aelod o’r tîm Sofie O’Shea yn nodi’r broses y bu hi drwyddi i wella hygyrchedd adnoddau cyhoeddus y Swyddfa Cyflenwi Dogfennau ar gyfer y Gwasanaeth Benthyg Rhwng Llyfrgelloedd a Gwasanaeth Sganio’r Llyfrgell. Roedd y broses hon yn angenrheidiol er mwyn diwallu anghenion ystod ehangach o anghenion defnyddwyr ac i wella cynhwysiant y gwasanaeth.
Sofie O’Shea
Cyn archwilio ein hadnoddau cyhoeddus, edrychais ar ganllawiau arfer gorau’r brifysgol ar wella hygyrchedd. Es i sesiwn hyfforddiant ardderchog y Rheolwr, Tina Webber ar y Ganolfan Trawsgrifio ar ‘Creu Dogfennau Hygyrch’ a gwneud defnydd da o ganllaw Academi Cynwysoldeb a Llwyddiant Dysgwyr Abertawe (SAILS) ar Wneud Adnoddau’n Gynhwysol. Roedd yr adnoddau hyfforddi hyn yn glir ac yn ddefnyddiol, gan ddarparu cyngor syml ond hynod effeithiol.
Yn dilyn argymhellion, gwnes chwyddo’r testun i o leiaf maint 12 mewn ffont syml a chlir ac adolygu’r lliwiau a ddefnyddir i sicrhau bod cyferbyniad da rhwng y testun a’r cefndir. I wella’r natur ddarllendawy, gwnes symleiddio cynllun yr adnoddau, lleihau nifer y tablau ar ffurflenni ac alino’r testun i ochr chwith y dudalen.
I wella hygyrchedd y Gwasanaeth Cyflenwi Dogfennau a Chanllawiau Llyfrgell y Gwasanaeth Sganio Llyfrgell, gweithiais gyda’m cydweithiwr, James Broomhall, i wirio bod penawdau tudalennau gwe yn rhesymegol ac yn gyson ac ychwanegu disgrifiadau tagiau ALT i luniau. Cafodd hyperddolenni eu haddasu i ddangos mwy o ddisgrifiadau cynnwys ystyrlon – er enghraifft, dangos enw’r ddogfen yn hytrach na nodi ‘cliciwch yma’. Mae hyn yn ddefnyddiol i unrhyw un sy’n defnyddio meddalwedd darllen sgrîn.
Wrth edrych ar gynnwys, cafodd paragraffau mawr o destun eu lleihau i adrannau llai a phwyntiau bwled. Bydd hyn yn gwella pori drwy alluogi defnyddwyr i ddod o hyd i wybodaeth hanfodol yn haws ac yn gyflymach. Gwiriais gynnwys hefyd am grynoder a disodli termau technegol gydag iaith syml lle bynnag y bo’n bosib.
Ar y cyfan, roedd hi’n syndod pa mor syml oedd hi i ddechrau gwneud newidiadau a fydd yn dileu rhwystrau i’n gwasanaeth. Er rydym yn cydnabod nad yw hi’n bosib cael un ymagwedd sy’n diwallu anghenion pawb, mae’n bwysig ceisio diwallu anghenion cynifer o unigolion â phosib. Fel a welir uchod, nid oes angen i gynwysoldeb fod yn heriol – mewn llawer o achosion, mae gwneud newidiadau bach i’r ffordd rydym yn gweithio’n ddigon i’n harwain ar hyd llwybr mwy cynhwysol sy’n fwy hwyslus i’r defnyddiwr.
The library’s Document Supply Service offers a range of services to staff and students at the university. If you need essential material for your research and it is not held by Swansea University libraries, then we can obtain a loan or copy from another library for you. The Document Supply Service can also digitise content such as a chapter from a textbook and make it available to students via their reading list.
Below, team member Sofie O’Shea details the process that she went through to improve the accessibility of the Document Supply Office’s public resources for the Interlibrary Loans Service and Library Scanning Service. This process was necessary to allow us to better cater for a wide range of user needs and to improve service inclusivity.
Sofie O’Shea
Before auditing our public resources, I first reviewed university best practice guidelines on improving accessibility. I attended Transcription Centre Manager Tina Webber’s excellent training session on ‘Creating accessible documents’ and made good use of Swansea Academy for Inclusivity and Learner Support’s (SAILS) guide to Making Resources Inclusive. These training resources were clear and helpful, providing simple yet effective advice.
Following recommendations, I enlarged text to a minimum of size 12 in a simple, clear font and reviewed colours used to ensure there was a good contrast between text and background. To improve readability, I simplified the layout of resources, minimised the number of tables on forms and aligned text to the left hand side of the page.
To improve the accessibility of the Document Supply Service and Library Scanning Service Library Guides, I worked alongside my colleague, James Broomhall, to check that webpage heading structures were logical and consistent and to add ALT tag descriptions to images. Hyperlinks were amended to display more meaningful content descriptions - for instance, showing the name of the document as opposed to stating ‘click here’. This is helpful for anyone using screen reading software.
When looking at content, large paragraphs of text were broken down into smaller sections and bullet points. This will improve browsability by allowing users to find essential information more quickly and easily. I also checked content for conciseness and replaced technical terms with plain language wherever possible.
Overall, it was surprising how simple it was to start making changes that will remove barriers to our service. Whilst it is recognised that it is not possible to implement one approach to meet all individuals’ needs, it is important to try to accommodate as many needs as we can. As shown above, inclusivity does not need to be challenging – in many instances, making small changes to the way we work is enough to start us on the path to a more inclusive and user-friendly environment.