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**** PUBLICATION ANNOUNCEMENT ***** Apologies for cross posting Non-Visual Access to the Digital Library The Centre for Research in Library and Information Management (CERLIM) would like to announce the publication of Final Report of the Resource funded Non-Visual Access to the Digital Library (NoVA) project. The two year NoVA project explored the information seeking behaviour of visually impaired people and aims to develop further understanding of user behaviour with web based resources. Why is this important? Web accessibility is an issue that many library and information service providers are taking into account. BUT, even when accessibility has been considered, users may still experience usability problems. As one user commented: It just takes so long sighted people just go click, click, click, and there's the answer while I'm still looking for the first .. link. It's very frustrating! Results reported in the Final Report confirm that it takes visually impaired users longer to complete searching and browsing tasks, but that times vary considerably depending on the design of the site and on the assistive technology used. These, and other findings, together with recommendations for digital library system design and service provision are detailed in the Final Report, which is available to download from the NoVA project website at: http://www.cerlim.ac.uk/projects/nova.html Versions are currently available in Word and PDF. An HTML version is in preparation and a further announcement will made shortly when this becomes available. The report is published by CERLIM as: Craven, J. and Brophy, P. Non-visual access to the digital library: the use of digital library interfaces by blind and visually impaired people. Library and Information Commission Research Report 145, Manchester: Centre for Research in Library and Information Management, 2003. ISBN 0 9535343 2 4 If you have any queries or have any problems accessing the report please contact: Jenny Craven, Research Associate CERLIM tel: 0161 247 6142 email: [log in to unmask] Further contact details are also available on the project website.