Human Rights, Information Access, and Finding Aids

Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is interpreted to grant individuals the right to information access, which includes access to information in archives—and, therefore, in finding aids. Finding aids are intended as first points of contact between archival users and materials, but they are not currently created in wholly accessible manners, which impedes this right. Using examples from music archives, I assess the accessibility of finding aids by applying three metrics: discoverability, usability, and readability. This paper focuses on accessibility from a disability perspective, but the discussed findings and suggested changes are applicable more broadly.