As a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and someone who has a longtime interest in library accessibility, the Big Ten Academic Alliance on library E-Resources accessibility caught my attention. I’m sure some in the accessibility arena are already familiar with this effort as it has been around for a couple of years. It was new to me, so I thought I’d share information about the effort.
According to the group’s web page, acting on concerns over the inaccessibility of many electronic resources in libraries, the group has a pilot project to fund third-party evaluations of various resources member libraries use or are considering purchasing. The organization also offers standardized accessibility license language that can be used in contracts.
Testing results currently contain evaluations of 17 different resources. Vendor responses to six of the evaluations are also provided. Having this level of detail made available publicly is excellent.
The standardized accessibility licensing language is about what you would expect. It calls for compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 AA criteria. It further stipulates that product upgrades and maintenance should not break accessibility. Vendors are also asked to provide an accurate voluntary product accessibility template to indicate how they comply with key accessibility standards including Section 508, from the United States Government; EN 301 549, European Union standards; and WCAG 2.0, international guidelines on web accessibility. Last, where products do not currently meet accessibility standards, vendors are expected to do so in a timely fashion and at no additional cost to the organizations licensing the products. Again, the contract language itself is about what you’d expect and what’s more important is getting this level of detail into contractual arrangements.
Having this sort of collective action from organizations who must meet legal requirements to serve their audiences is great. This is an effort to continue to monitor as the group will continue to post updates and evaluations on their web site.
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