Institutional, state, and federal requirements addressing the accessibility of digital content continue to evolve, thus creating a complex accessibility landscape for libraries as they purchase and create both content and systems. Institutions are faced with a multitude of variables, including adherence to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), and more. As libraries grapple with this new landscape, they want to know where they stand amongst their peers, what mandates apply to their situations, and how library staff are training for accessibility requirements, among other issues. The May 2018 Association of Research Libraries (ARL) SPEC Kit 358, Accessibility and Universal Design, provided an excellent introductory environmental scan of how the largest research libraries in North America are meeting the needs of individuals with disabilities. LYRASIS, a membership organization of more than 1,000 galleries, libraries, archives, and museums of all types and sizes, wanted to expand on this research to gain feedback from the remaining majority of academic libraries serving smaller and mid-sized institutions. LYRASIS is in a unique position to offer a picture of the challenges libraries confront regarding accessibility. The organization’s broad membership base, a deep history of group licensing of digital content, and increasing support for Open Access initiatives all place LYRASIS at the front lines of accessibility concerns. In the beginning of 2019, LYRASIS will distribute a survey instrument to its members in order to collate these challenges, determine best practices, and outline next steps for libraries struggling to make sense of the accessibility landscape. This presentation will deliver the results of that survey as well as contextualize these results within an overview of recent accessibility reports and initiatives. Beth Ashmore, Beth Ashmore is Associate Head, Acquisitions & Discovery (Serials) at North Carolina State University. Jill Grogg, Strategist, Content and Scholarly Communication Initiatives, LYRASIS Hannah Rosen, Scholarly Communication Specialist and Digitization Program Coordinator, LYRASIS

1. An Accessibility Survey of
Libraries: Results, Best
Practices, & Next Steps
• Beth Ashmore, North Carolina State University Libraries
• Jill Grogg, LYRASIS
• Hannah Rosen, LYRASIS
NASIG 34th Annual Conference
Saturday, June 8, 2019

2. lyrasis.org
AGENDA:
• Contextualizing
accessibility & the
LYRASIS survey
• Survey results &
analysis
• Accessibility &
North Carolina
State University
Libraries

3. lyrasis.org
Contextualizing accessibility
• Accommodating users with disabilities
• Historical
• Digital
• Existing research
• Topical articles
• JISC (UK) initiatives
• ARL SPEC Kit 358 (May 2018): Accessibility & Universal Design
• LYRASIS
• About our organization
• Survey goals & objectives

4. lyrasis.org
Accessibility survey
Overarching Questions:
How many libraries have policies in place to handle online
accessibility?
What tools and training are at their staff’s disposal to assist in
these endeavors?
What mandates inform accessibility policies?

5. lyrasis.org
Content
Acquisition

6. lyrasis.org
Content
Creation

7. lyrasis.org
Systems

8. lyrasis.org
In total, we
received 155
responses.

9. lyrasis.org
Accessibility survey
Carnegie Classifications Count
Associates College 8
Baccalaureate College—Arts & Sciences (259) 15
Baccalaureate College—Diverse Fields (324) 3
Baccalaureate/Associate's College: Associates Dominant (149) 1
Baccalaureate/Associate's College: Mixed
Baccalaureate/Associate's (259) 1
Doctoral University – Higher Research Activity (R2) 12
Doctoral University – Highest Research Activity (R1) 22
Doctoral University – Moderate Research Activity (R3) 17
Master's College and University: Larger programs (M1) 17
Master's College and University: Medium programs (M2) 7
Master's College and University: Smaller programs (M3) 10
Other 34
Independent Archives 4
Museum 4
Grand Total 155

10. lyrasis.org
Accessibility survey
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
No
Other (please specify)
Yes - a formal policy, e.g. a written policy approved
by relevant administration
Yes - an informal policy, e.g. rule of thumb to
generally follow
Does your institution have an accessibility policy for digital
content acquisition?
83 respondents

11. lyrasis.org
Accessibility survey
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
No
Other (please specify)
Yes - a formal policy, e.g. a written policy approved
by relevant administration
Yes – an informal policy, e.g. rule of thumb to
generally follow
Does your institution have an accessibility policy in place that
applies to the content you create and make available on the
World Wide Web?
96 respondents

12. lyrasis.org
Accessibility survey
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
No
Other (please specify)
Yes – an informal policy, e.g. rule of thumb to
generally follow
Yes - a formal policy, e.g. a written policy approved
by relevant administration
Does your institution have an accessibility policy for
determining which systems will be used to host content on
the World Wide Web?
73 respondents

13. lyrasis.org
Libraries are the
most
progressive in
terms of
accessibility
when they
maintain the
most control
over their
content.

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Accessibility survey
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
In-person training from other staff
In-person training from external areas of the
institution
In-person training from outside of the institution
Webinars/on-line courses
Conferences/workshops
Self-training
None
Other (please specify)
What training has been provided to help staff understand and
implement your accessibility policy?
Systems Content Creation Content Acquisition

15. lyrasis.org
Accessibility survey
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
Americans with Disabilities Act
WCAG
State law governing my institution
Non-legal internal mandate
Non-legal institution-wide mandate
Other (please specify)
Which mandates inform your accessibility policy?
Systems Creation/Acquisition Content Creation Content Acquisition

16. lyrasis.org
Accessibility survey
Other questions in the survey:
• Do you have a timeline for implementing your accessibility policy?
• Who is responsible for updating your accessibility policy and how often is it
audited/updated?
• How is your accessibility policy enforced?
• What documentation do you request from content providers to enforce
your accessibility policy?
• If your institution provides financial support for the creation of Open Access
(OA) content, are you held to the same accessibility mandates as licensed
content?
• What type of content are you creating and making available for your
community?
• Which tools/resources do you use to ensure your content/systems
conform(s) to the accessibility policy?
• If your institution chooses to use Open Source Software (OSS), whether
hosted locally or through a third party hosting agent, are those applications
held to the same accessibility mandates as proprietary software?

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Survey results = next steps
Community
of Practice
Policies
Training
Documentation

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The state of accessibility at NC State
• Mandates and policy at the state and university level
• IT Accessibility Quick Guide
• IT Accessibility Handbook
• Accessible Procurement
• Technology, service, and compliance at the library level
• Assistive Technology Center (ATC)

19. lyrasis.org
Accessibility partners
• Campus IT and Purchasing
• Consortia
• LYRASIS
• State Networks & Resource Providers
• NC LIVE
• Library Community
• VPAT Repository
• JISC’s ebook accessibility audit

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Who owns this work within your organization?
• Collections
• Acquisitions
• User Experience
• Access & Learning Services
• Scholarly Communications
• Special Collections & Digitization
• Metadata

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TheAlternativeText Project at NC State
• Accessibility issues as malformed metadata
• Create metadata best practices
• Use pattern recognition and batch editing
• Create documentation and workflows

22. Look for the LYRASIS white paper
in June!
Questions?
• Beth Ashmore, beashmor@ncsu.edu
• Jill Grogg, jill.grogg@lyrasis.org
• Hannah Rosen, Hannah.rosen@lyrasis.org