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Open Book Accessibility for Librarians

Librarian Responsibilities

Accessibility applies to various aspects of libraries and there are several points in the process of providing content to users where accessibility issues might arise, including:

  • static digital content files
  • proprietary platforms
  • websites
  • catalogues
  • end user devices
  • reader apps
  • print resources

Only some of this is within the control of librarians, and where any of these are within your control, then librarians need to think about accessibility:

  • the content has been created or produced by them
  • they have made decisions on which content supplier to use
  • it is possible for them to easily provide an alternative format

Librarians are expected to:

  • Make resources produced by the library accessible

  • Evidence the accessibility of supplier content

  • Choose publishers, vendors and suppliers whose products meet accessibility standards

  • Provide alternative formats or support when a resource isn’t accessible

Make resources produced by the library accessible

Librarians produce various resources themselves, in various formats, where basic accessibility tasks within that format type must be completed. There may be automated checkers within the authoring tool that you can rely on.

  • Word documents
  • PDFs
  • Maps
  • Audio visual content
  • Course content and training materials

There are also other formats, while authored by librarians, where the accessibility is generally handled elsewhere. 

  • Websites, although these are part of wider organisational websites and will have centralised support
  • LibGuides, which will likely be on supplier platforms or an organisational website
  • Repository content, which will likely have an accessible version elsewhere

Evidence the accessibility of supplier content

Providing information about the accessibility of content to end users is a key service librarians can provide. There are various mechanisms available with which to do this, that are detailed below.

1. Publisher declaration

Most, but not all, publishers are required by law to produce an accessibility statement, which needs to be available publicly. This will detail the content's compliance with standards, parts that are not yet accessible, and the plans the publisher has to remedy that. It is also where you will find contact details to make individual accessibility requests.

Some publishers will also produce VPATs which are standardised templates that detail the accessibility of content, structured to show the criteria of the most widely used international accessibility standards. They are voluntary and not a mandatory requirement to produce.

Readers or end users can be directed towards these resources in order to understand if content meets their needs.

2. Metadata

Metadata formats, such as ONIX, contain fields that describe the accessibility features of content. This can be displayed within library catalogues or on any content landing pages to inform readers and help them make a decision on whether their needs are met by the content. There is some guidance on techniques for extracting information from ONIX Accessibility Metadata for display.

3. Certification

Some organisations will certify content as being accessible on a publisher's behalf. These certification schemes are not widely used, but they do produce labels or seals which are an icon that may be displayed on content landing pages. If you see this, the certification acts as evidence that the content is accessible.

4. External auditing 

In the US, the Library Accessibility Alliance (LAA) contracts third party accessibility auditors to audit the content of various publishers against WCAG 2.1 AA, and publishes the results freely online. Vendors have a right to reply and these responses are available alongside the published auditing results. While this is the only example of co-ordinated and open efforts, it is always an option for libraries to do similar as an individual organisation, by approaching independent accessibility auditors and consultants themselves. In most cases, this would be cost prohibitive.

5. Self auditing

Rather than relying on external auditors, librarians can perform some basic accessibility checks themselves. For more information, see our clear guidance on auditing which applies in this context too. In most cases, there will not be staffing capacity or time available to do this systematically. 

Choose publishers, vendors and suppliers whose products meet accessibility standards

Platform Accessibility

As we are focused on open monographs, which are usually available for download directly from publisher websites, the accessibility of publisher and aggregator platforms is not something we have considered on this project. In our view, this is a major positive for open monographs, as it removes a layer or point within the process of content flowing from the author to the reader, meaning it's one less place where inaccessibility can be introduced. We can recommend this free course that may help in this area: Digital Accessibility for Academic Libraries: Optimising Primo E - The Open University Library      

Book file accessibility

Variable accessibility

One thing to keep in mind is that accessibility will vary between individual books or content items, whereas some of the mechanisms for evidencing accessibility above (such as accessibility statements or LAA reports) describe the accessibility of everything together at the publisher level. Publisher level information might be enough to make a decision on whether to acquire or ingest content, however end users will need the book level granularity to make decisions on whether they can access content, without having to download and test. 

More guidance

The following guidance pages explain the specific considerations to take into account when engaging with small publishers on the subject of accessibility during procurement.

Discussing accessibility with small publishers

Provide alternative formats or support when a resource isn’t accessible

An important part of supporting accessibility in the library is responding to accessibility requests from individual users. It is best practice to have a named person, alongside an email address where they can be contacted, who will respond to these requests. Additionally, these requests are logged and responses recorded, so that librarians can work systematically, work as a team and so repeating or patterned requests can be determined. There are copyright exemptions that enable accessible formats of proprietary content to be created where they don't already exist, again this is another advantage to open access publishing, where this exemption is not needed.

Meeting these needs usually follows this process: 

  • Identify the need: what format is needed and how urgent is the request
  • Check for existing accessible versions: through publishers, or other organisations like RNIB bookshare
  • Create or source an alternative format: digitise, tag and convert content
  • Provide assistive technology: e.g. screen readers, magnification software
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