Online Library for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students

ABSTRACT

Online libraries provide access to a wide range of information, with an almost limitless amount of resources and options that can be accessed from anywhere and at any time. However, most of the online libraries do not cater to the needs of Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) students. It has been observed that DHH pupils were mostly excluded from education during COVID-19. Curriculum resources for K-12 DHH students' education are the same as regular school students' materials. Most of the DHH students prefer gestures and learn through visual representations. Therefore, a picture book was developed for the photosynthesis concept. Similarly, a home sign language video was recorded. These were included as an integral part of the developed online library prototype. This study focused on validating the usability of the online library application. Students acknowledged the usefulness of the online library prototype. © 2022 IEEE.