Making ebooks accessible presents challenges in content, metadata, and platforms. Content varies across publishers in terms of inclusion of semantic tags and alternative text. Platforms must retain publishers' accessibility features while meeting standards for skip navigation, testing with assistive technologies, and addressing legacy code issues. Metadata also has inconsistencies across standards for describing accessibility information. Opportunities exist to provide guidance to publishers, incentivize inclusive formats like EPUB, improve documentation for usability, and participate in certification programs.

1. Making Ebooks
Accessible: Challenges
and Opportunities
@karamargaret
Kara Kroes Li
Director, Product
Management, eBooks
EBSCO Information Services
kkroes@ebsco.com

2. eCommerce
GOBI profiles ~70,000 books per
year for sale to academic libraries
Research and Reading
EBSCO eBooks offers 1.6M ebooks from 1,500
publishers via the EBSCOhost platform
EBSCO Books and GOBI Library Solutions

3. Content
Metadata
Software / Platform
Challenges and Opportunities

4. Feature EPUB PDF
Integrates Web Standards – Dynamic
Linking
Y N
Reflowable Text (Optimized Display) Y N
Accessibility Standards Y Y*
Searchable Images, Formulas, Tables Y N
Support for Non-Roman Languages Y N
Adjustable Font Size, Background Color Y N
Audio, Video, Quizzes Y N
CONTENT
Content Challenges: EPUB vs PDF

5. Publishers creating EPUB 69%
Delivery volume from EPUB-providing publishers 87%
Publishers planning to meet WCAG 2.0 accessibility standards 49%
Lack of expertise / time
45%
Lack of knowledge
21%
Technical / system
limitations
20%
Budget restrictions
18%
2018 Survey of Publisher Landscape
CONTENT

6. CONTENT
Content Challenges: Publisher Variation
• Content creators need to include:
• Semantic tags for document structure like <header>
• Alternative text for images
• Captions for figures
• Semantic markup for tables like <figure>
• Content variation across publishers is a major problem

7. • Provide guidance on best practices
• Encourage WCAG Content Structure Guidelines
• Recommend vendors or tools
• Encourage EPUB
• Evangelize
What are we Doing?
CONTENT

8. Visual
Disability Takes Many Forms
Hearing
Motor
Cognitive
https://disabilitycompendium.org/sites/default/files/user-uploads/2016_AnnualReport.pdf
Universal Design Principles: Designing
products that are usable by all people,
regardless of disability type or severity of
impairment
PLATFORM

9. • Websites or platforms need to:
• Retain publisher's accessibility features
• Include meaningful structure on webpages
• Provide options to skip to the main content
• Develop and test with various assistive technologies
• Repeatedly test/audit against standards
• Legacy code
• Maintaining an accessibility mindset and expertise
Platform Challenges
PLATFORM

10. Writing Requirements
• Each element of the user experience must be coded so that
the user can fully interact with the page using either a screen
reader or a keyboard
• Color contrast must meet certain guidelines
• Specific fonts must be avoided because they are especially
difficult for people with dyslexia
• Videos must contain captions
PLATFORM

11. Writing Requirements
PLATFORM

12. “Include in PDF grouping current page radio button not checked 1 of 3”
role=“dialog” aria-labelledby=“modal-header page-limit-info”
<label>
<input type=“radio”>
Current Page
</label>
<legend>Include in PDF</legend>
Building Accessible Software
PLATFORM

13. Accessibility Testing: Tools
PLATFORM

14. Accessibility Testing: Tools
PLATFORM
• Automated tests can
reliably evaluate only 30%
of accessibility issues
• Manual testing is critical in
designing a usable website
-Hiram Kuykendall, MicroAssist

15. Browser
• IOS desktop
• IOS mobile
• IOS tablet
• Android mobile
• Android tablet
• Desktop
• IE
• Firefox
• Chrome
• Safari
• Vision
• Hearing
• Mobility
• Learning
• Cognitive
• JAWS
• NVDA
• VoiceOver
• Narrator
• ZoomText
• WindowEyes
• Magnifier
• Claro
• ReadSpeaker TTS
• Read&Write
• Kurzwell
Assistive
Technology
OS/Device
Disability
Manual Testing: Factors to Consider
PLATFORM

16. Source: https://webaim.org/projects/screenreadersurvey7/
Screen Reader / Browser Combinations
PLATFORM

17. Training Developers and Product Managers
PLATFORM

18. • VPATs important but unreadable
• User-facing documentation meant to be read by students
and disability services personnel
• JISC ASPIRE project called attention to this and gives
organization guidance on how to improve
Importance of Documentation
PLATFORM

19. Documentation for Usability
PLATFORM

20. • Multiple metadata standards
• EPUB specification
• ONIX contains multiple places for accessibility information
• Publishers not leveraging metadata elements
consistently
• Opportunity for the market to incentivize progress
Metadata Challenges
METADATA

21. Metadata Opportunities - Vitalsource
METADATA

22. Metadata Opportunities - Vitalsource
METADATA

23. Opportunities: Benetech
METADATA
• GCA (Global Certified Accessible) gets to the
core problem: production processes
• Publisher participation so far: MacMillan, Simon
& Schuster, Wiley, Guilford Press
• Standards stringent by design

24. Takeaways
Content
Metadata
Software / Platform

25. THANK YOU
kkroes@ebsco.com