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Library Resources and Accessibility

Accessibility details for library resources.

(WCAG) 2.1 Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 defines how to make Web content more accessible to people with disabilities. Accessibility involves a wide range of disabilities, including visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, language, learning, and neurological disabilities. Although these guidelines cover a wide range of issues, they are not able to address the needs of people with all types, degrees, and combinations of disability. These guidelines also make Web content more usable by older individuals with changing abilities due to aging and often improve usability for users in general.

Screen reader order: Screen readers will go through all boxes in the first column and then all boxes in the second column, rather than reading boxes left to right.
Web Accessibility Checklist
  1. COLORS
  2. FRIENDLY URLS
  3. HEADINGS
  4. IMAGES
  5. LINKS
  6. LISTS & TABLES
  7. MULTIMEDIA
  8. PAGE NAME & DESCRIPTION
  9. TEXT & CONTENT

Find ways to make your guides more accessible here.

5 Tips to Help You Build Accessible LibGuides Content

Springshare Training-Web accessibility is a group effort. To that end, you can do many things to ensure that your LibGuides pages are as accessible as possible.
Start here, Rich Text and Removing Formats

If you have any sections of Rich Text/HTML content, you may want to edit these, select all of the text, and click the Remove Format button (right after the strikethrough). This will give you a blank slate to work with and make checking your content easier, as you won't have to worry that you styled something as a heading instead of making it a heading or otherwise adding inaccessible styles. The button will not remove elements like headings and lists.

Begin with: 

Link descriptions

  1. Links do not use the "More Info" box. All additional info is included in the description instead.
    • Set the option to 'Opens in New Window' for each page.
    • Check for any alerts for "Suspicious link text."
    • If there are any, check each alert. If an alert takes you to a link called "more..." you have found a link using the "More Info" box.
    • You can also manually scan the page for any "more..." links, but WAVE will make it easier to quickly identify these.
  2. Links and Book from the Catalog description displays are set to display beneath the item title.
    • Scan the page for icons with an i on top of a black circle. If you find one, you have a link or book with a description display set to "Hover over info icon."
    • Scan the page for any links or books that don't have a description shown. Try hovering over them. If any description pops up, you have found an item with a description display set to "Hover over item title."

 Image alternative text 

  1. Images of text are not included (unless absolutely necessary).
    • While checking if images have appropriate alternative text (next step after this one), ensure the image in question is not an image of text. If it is, ensure that all the text is included as text on the page. If you want to also provide the image just for the style, that is no problem, but the text in the image should be redundant.
  2. Images have appropriate alternative text.
    • Use the WAVEOpens in new window automated tool on each page.
    • Look for any errors that include the phrase "missing alternative text." Provide either null alt or written alt text as appropriate (refer to the Digital Accessibility - General ReferenceOpens in new window guide and/or this image tutorialOpens in new window).
    • Look for alerts indicating suspicious, redundant, duplicate, or long alternative text. Fix these issues as needed.
    • Look for features indicating existing or null alternative text, and double-check that the provided (or null) alternative text is appropriate.
  3. Thumbnail images on links (including documents) have accessible alt text (most likely null).
    • This is included in step 2. Pay close attention if non-null alternative text has been provided, and make sure that it is useful and does not detract from the link text, as screen readers will include it as part of the link text.
  4. Book cover art has accessible alt text (most likely null).
    • This is included in step 2. As with step 3, pay close attention if non-null alternative text has been provided.
    • Also, pay close attention if you see any alternative text that says "cover art." Always remove this!
  5. Resource icons (these are uploaded by you) are not used in links (including books and documents).
    • You probably aren't using any, but if you are you will notice that the image is a separate link from the main link. This is your best indication that you are using a resource icon that should be removed.

Basic link accessibility

  1. Link text clearly defines purpose with context (the same sentence, paragraph, list item, or table cell) or on its own. It is strongly recommended to ensure link text makes sense without context.
    • WAVE can help you catch the most obvious issues.
    • Look for any "empty link" errors or "suspicious link text" alerts. WAVE will also provide an alert for redundant links, which it is best to remove whenever possible (both for screen reader users and sighted viewers).
  2. No guide pages redirect to other pages or guides.
    • Check each page manually to ensure it keeps you on the same guide.
    • If any pages do redirect, remove these pages and include the links as normal links within another page.
    • Document links clearly indicate behavior.
      • Check for these manually. If it is easier, you can go to the assets list, limit it to only document assets that you own, and check those.
      • WAVE may provide alerts for some document links (for example, links to Word or PDF documents), but it is best not to rely on this because it doesn't do this for all of them.

 

  
Accessibility Guidelines

Removing Formats

If you have any sections of Rich Text/HTML content, you may want to edit these, select all of the text, and click the Remove Format button (right after the strikethrough). This will give you a blank slate to work with and make checking your content easier, as you won't have to worry that you styled something as a heading instead of making it a heading or otherwise adding inaccessible styles. The button will not remove elements like headings and lists.

Start here:

Link descriptions

  1. Links do not use the "More Info" box. All additional info is included in the description instead.
    • Set the option to 'Opens in New Window' for each page.
    • Check for any alerts for "Suspicious link text."
    • If there are any, check each alert. If an alert takes you to a link called "more..." you have found a link using the "More Info" box.
    • You can also manually scan the page for any "more..." links, but WAVE will make it easier to quickly identify these.
  2. Links and Book from the Catalog description displays are set to display beneath the item title.
    • Scan the page for icons with an i on top of a black circle. If you find one, you have a link or book with a description display set to "Hover over info icon."
    • Scan the page for any links or books that don't have a description shown. Try hovering over them. If any description pops up, you have found an item with a description display set to "Hover over item title."

 Image alternative text 

  1. Images of text are not included (unless absolutely necessary).
    • While checking if images have appropriate alternative text (next step after this one), ensure the image in question is not an image of text. If it is, ensure that all the text is included as text on the page. If you want to also provide the image just for the style, that is no problem, but the text in the image should be redundant.
  2. Images have appropriate alternative text.
    • Use the WAVEOpens in new window automated tool on each page.
    • Look for any errors that include the phrase "missing alternative text." Provide either null alt or written alt text as appropriate (refer to the Digital Accessibility - General ReferenceOpens in new window guide and/or this image tutorialOpens in new window).
    • Look for alerts indicating suspicious, redundant, duplicate, or long alternative text. Fix these issues as needed.
    • Look for features indicating existing or null alternative text, and double-check that the provided (or null) alternative text is appropriate.
  3. Thumbnail images on links (including documents) have accessible alt text (most likely null).
    • This is included in step 2. Pay close attention if non-null alternative text has been provided, and make sure that it is useful and does not detract from the link text, as screen readers will include it as part of the link text.
  4. Book cover art has accessible alt text (most likely null).
    • This is included in step 2. As with step 3, pay close attention if non-null alternative text has been provided.
    • Also, pay close attention if you see any alternative text that says "cover art." Always remove this!
  5. Resource icons (these are uploaded by you) are not used in links (including books and documents).
    • You probably aren't using any, but if you are you will notice that the image is a separate link from the main link. This is your best indication that you are using a resource icon that should be removed.

Basic link accessibility

  1. Link text clearly defines purpose with context (the same sentence, paragraph, list item, or table cell) or on its own. It is strongly recommended to ensure link text makes sense without context.
    • WAVE can help you catch the most obvious issues.
    • Look for any "empty link" errors or "suspicious link text" alerts. WAVE will also provide an alert for redundant links, which it is best to remove whenever possible (both for screen reader users and sighted viewers).
  2. No guide pages redirect to other pages or guides.
    • Check each page manually to ensure it keeps you on the same guide.
    • If any pages do redirect, remove these pages and include the links as normal links within another page.
    • Document links clearly indicate behavior.
      • Check for these manually. If it is easier, you can go to the assets list, limit it to only document assets that you own, and check those.
      • WAVE may provide alerts for some document links (for example, links to Word or PDF documents), but it is best not to rely on this because it doesn't do this for all of them.
Thank you to OK University Libraries for this content that will help guide us in updating our guides.

Student Accessibility Experience

  
Sarah, a blind former student from the University of South Carolina shares her web accessibility experiences.