Accessibility

This lesson was developed by Hana Levay, University of Washington, and Sid Devarenne, Western Washington University.

Approximate time to complete: 4-5 hours

Learning Objectives:

After completing this lesson you will be able to:

• Articulate issues around accessibility and licensing.
• Apply accessibility testing and standards in valuing a resource.

Table of Contents:

• Do: Pre-test Assessment
• Watch, Listen, or Read
  • Presentations
    • Overview of WCAG 2.1
    • How to use keyboard testing and VPATs in accessibility testing
    • Legal Topics in Accessibility
    • Quick and informal demonstration of keyboard navigation testing
  • Readings
    • Alternative reading: “Accessibility and E-Resources: using a rubric to score platforms on their probability of inaccessibility”
    • Vendor Negotiation
    • Standardized Accessibility License Language
    • Resources to Support Your Learning
• Review: Application within Academic Libraries
  • UW Case Study
  • Conifer Case Study
• Do: Putting Your Learning into Practice
  • Practice navigating a resource using only the keyboard
  • Write a script for communicating with vendors
  • Try to find VPATs and other accessibility documentation
• Do: Post-Test Assessment
• Helpful Tools & Readings
• Group Activities & Discussion

DO: Pre-Test Assessment

Download this document so that you may save your answers and compare to the answer key linked at the bottom of this lesson. This assessment can also be found in the Workbook.

WATCH, LISTEN, OR READ:

Presentations:

(There is an alternate reading listed under readings instead of watching the first two presentations)

• Overview of WCAG 2.1 Success Criteria and how keyboard navigation testing can be used to measure accessibility 
  • • Recording of talk: Accessibility and Assessment in E-Resources Management, ER&L 2020 (45 minutes)
    • Slides
• How to use keyboard testing and VPATs in accessibility testing
  • • Recording of talk: Accessibility of Electronic Resources – VPATs and Keyboard Testing WLA 2021 (10 minutes)
    • Slides

• Legal topics in accessibility (slides only)
• Quick and informal demonstration of keyboard navigation testing (4 minutes)

Read:

• “Accessibility and E-Resources: using a rubric to score platforms on their probability of inaccessibility” This paper has similar content to the first two presentations listed above and is offered as an alternate mode of learning.
• Vendor negotiation 
  • Scripts
  • Ways vendors push back
  • Strategies to apply pressure
• Standardized Accessibility License Language
• Resources to Support Your Learning

REVIEW: Application within Academic Libraries

• University of Washington Case Study: Incorporating accessibility into the procurement process 
• Conifer University Case Study: Incorporating in-house accessibility assessment into a subscription review scorecard
  

DO: Putting your learning into practice

These exercises are also found in the Foundations Workbook (docx download, PDF download). 

• Exercise: Practice navigating a resource using only the keyboard and note what the experience is like. While this isn’t technically part of licensing, it can be a good way to show colleagues the difficulty accessing certain resources enabling you to create local buy-in to push for greater accessibility with vendors. It is often an eye opening experience. 
• Exercise: Write a script for communicating with vendors about accessibility. 
• Exercise: Try to find VPATs and other accessibility documentation on a list of vendor sites (Some easy to find, some buried, some not available at all)

DO: Post-Test Assessment

Download this document so that you may save your answers and compare to the answer key linked at the bottom of this lesson. This assessment can also be found in the Workbook.

Helpful Tools & Readings

• Library Accessibility Alliance’s Accessibility Toolkit
• University of Washington Libraries Library E-Resource Accessibility Testing 
• Now that we’ve signed a contract, how do we audit if those contracts are holding up? Auditing for accessibility
• Higher Education Community Vendor Assessment Toolkit 
• UW Libraries Licensing Principles page
• SUNY’s Library Procurement Accessibility Toolkit
• The California State University’s Accessible Technology Initiative Procurement Page

Group Activities & Discussion

If the curriculum is being completed by a group these activities can help the group learn together. (docx download) (pdf download)

Answer Key