Turning the Page on Digital Accessibility
Action Plan
Following a one-hour meeting with Springshare, we prioritized fixing all errors and alerts and implementing best practices to improve our guides.
Homepage Fixes: We started with our homepage, resolving issues with missing alternative text, color contrast, and the rotation speed of our announcements gallery
Guide-by-Guide Updates: Once the homepage was updated, we moved to the 10 audited guides, correcting every error, alert, and best practice consideration from the Springshare report.
Expanding the Project: This is an ongoing project. Using our new knowledge and tools, we are now systematically working through the rest of our 2,500+ guides, starting with the most heavily used.
Sustainable Change: To ensure future compliance, we have updated our guide template and are training our librarians on best practices for accessibility.
Lessons Learned
The Value of an Audit: We learned that the time, effort, and expense of an accessibility audit are well worth it. This experience deepened our understanding of accessibility standards and how to apply them.
Our Evolving Expertise: We gained the skills to conduct our own accessibility tests. We now focus on key elements like:
- Alternative text
- Color contrast
- Heading levels
- Broken links/elements
- Proper use of iFrames
Creating a Sustainable Framework:
- Training is key: We will provide ongoing training for all staff through workshops and one-on-one sessions.
- New workflows: We are developing new publishing workflows, including peer review and accessibility checklists, to ensure consistent quality control.
- Tools of the trade: We now use a combination of accessibility checkers, keyboard navigation, and screen readers to test our guides.
Image of an updated book gallery in our Anatomy & Physiology Guide following the accessibility report. We slowed down the movement timing, added alt text to the book cover images, and set it for two books at a time instead of one.