Implementing Accessibility to a Digital Library Using Virtual Reality Techniques

This paper describes an ongoing research project about the development of a digital library to house 3D graphical models of biomolecules, for educational applications. An important aspect of the digital library will be the implementation of its accessibility to people with visual disabilities. To achieve this, the information from the 3D models will be presented through auditory and haptic (using the sense of touch) information using virtual reality techniques, and the queries to the digital library will be done using voice recognition hardware. The objective of this research is to see whether virtual reality techniques are effective to improve accessibility to a digital library. This research project is being carried out at the Virtual Reality Laboratory of the University of Colima in Mexico.