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IT Managers/Systems

Accessibility Support for Library Members & Staff

The American Library Association encourages members and library staff to create materials that are accessible for both library patrons and co-workers. The accessibility resources they provide cover accessible documents (in Word and PDFs), adding alternative text in different technology platforms, and testing the accessibility of the resources.

Screen Magnification

If you are interested in learning more about screen magnification technologies, this resource is a terrific starting point. The AbilityNet factsheet describes what screen magnification software is and does.

Assistive Technology Products

The American Foundation of the Blind (AFB) provides a list of assistive technologies (also known as access technologies) that persons with print disabilities use to consume content. The products page includes a summary of the different technologies as well as the different types and options for each one.

Guide to Image Descriptions

AccessiblePublishing.ca, a website developed by the National Network of Equitable Library Service (NNELS), presents information and resources to help publishers, libraries, and other organizations create and provide access to accessible eBooks.

Quick Reference: Accessibility 101 For Public Libraries

To get you started on your accessibility journey, we’ve summarized information from the Accessibility 101 webinar. The fact and links in this training resource will help you establish foundational knowledge that you can build on.

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Quick Reference

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Recommendations that were developed by Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) using the W3C Process. WCAG are the standards for digital accessibility and should be consulted throughout the development and maintaining of digital technologies.

A11Y Project

This website provides a WCAG compliance checklist that you can use to evaluate your digital content and a very comprehensive list of resources relevant to digital accessibility. This is one of the broader resource lists available online, and they do a great job breaking them down into relevant categories.

Access Ability 2: A Practical Handbook on Accessible Graphic Design

This robust handbook contains information, guidelines, education, and tools meant to improve the accessibility of digital and print media. The Registered Graphic Designers (RGD) assembled the handbook in collaboration with the Government of Ontario.

Knowbility

Knowbility is a nonprofit organization with the mission of improving technology access for millions of youth and adults with disabilities all over the world. They provide several services, including accessibility testing, auditing, training, and a regularly updated comprehensive blog on web accessibility.

MDN Web Docs: Accessibility

The Mozilla Developer Network’s (MDN) main page on accessibility contains a series of training modules on HTML, CSS and Javascript, ARIA, Accessible Multimedia, and Mobile Accessibility.

Guidelines on Library and Information Services for People with Disabilities

This is a set of accessibility guidelines from 2016 written by the Canadian Federation of Library Associations (CFLA), in consultation with experts, for all Canadian libraries. This document is a good general outline of recommended accessible and inclusive service practices.

Digital Accessibility Courses & Accessibility Reference Library

Deque University provides an extensive curriculum of self-guided online courses so you can focus on the skills you need with the flexibility your schedule requires. Along with courses, this site also offers valuable resources such as guides to using screen readers, an ARIA JavaScript pattern library, and a page with a detailed breakdown of disability demographics.

Professional Web Accessibility Auditing Made Easy

This free ebook contains essential information for web developers and organizations that want to ensure their digital content is fully accessible. The information is presented as various readings, hands-on activities, and a self-administered test to take at the end of each chapter.

Color Contrast Checker

TPGi’s free colour contrast checker tool allows you to quickly determine the contrast ratio of two colours simply using an eyedrop tool. Along with being accessible and user-friendly, the suggestions it generates are based on WCAG compliance and provide a checklist that reveals the compliance level of colour choices.

User Design, Illustration, and Typesetting

A data-driven examination of different types of disabilities encountered by various population demographics and how it impacts their access to digital content. The article presents statistics on groups of the population (demographics), different types of people, related issues, and some suggestions on how to resolve them.