Beyond Accessibility

Acronyms are written in all capital letters, typically.  Usually, each letter in an acronym is the first letter of one of the words in the phrase the acronym spells. The best use of an acronym is when it expresses a clearly understood phrase or concept without having to spell out all of the words each time. Several rules of thumb can be followed to ensure acronyms are understood accurately.  1. Spell out the acronym before it is used the first time in a document 2. Understand who the target audience is  3. Understand what the knowledge base of the target audience is. When used correctly, an acronym is an example of Ranganathan's Fourth Law of Library Science--save the Time of the Reader.

1. Books are for Use 2. Every  Reader His Book 3. Every Book Its Reader 4. Save the Time of the Reader 5. The Library is a Growing Organism  Five Laws of Library Science were conceived in 1924 and published in 1931 by the father of library science, Dr. S. R. Ranganathan.  I will make modifications to his words, but to start with, it is essential to quote his original words.       As a one-time library science student, I believe these five laws offer fertile ground for reimagining what accessibility could mean.

There are eight parts of speech in the English language. In alphabetical order, they are: 1. Adjectives  2. Adverbs 3. Articles 4. Conjunctions 5. Interjections 6. Nouns 7. Prepositions 8. Verbs Adjectives modify Nouns. They describe the characteristics of a person, place, or thing. Adverbs modify Verbs. They describe characteristics of an action or of a state of being. Conjunctions join two words, phrases or ideas. Interjections express emphasis or emotion that are spoken or written.  Nouns are people, places or things. Common nouns refer to people, places or things, in general. Whereas, proper nouns refer to specific people, places or things.  Prepositions are words that describe the relationship between two or more people, places or things. Verbs are words that describe an action or state of being. Verbs may be divided into several categories: Action verbs describe action, or movement of some sort. Helping verbs communicate the general time--the past, present or future...