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Staff from an organization that supports public libraries

Respectful and Plain Language

Respectful and Plain Language is a communication guide for library staff when interacting with and assisting the public.

Accessible Library Programming Examples

Libraries worldwide offer a wide variety of accessible programs. Learning about these programs is a great way to discover how libraries are attempting to meet specific accessibility needs. This resource contains examples of accessible programming found in libraries in North America.

The Presenter Toolkit

Rachel Shortt has created a best practice guide to presentations. The presenter toolkit covers planning and designing presentations, tips, and things to think about while giving the presentation, answering any questions that may arise from your presentation material.

Rules for the Microsoft Accessibility Checker

The rules for the Microsoft accessibility checker are a thorough guide to the various ways a user can ensure that their Microsoft 365 files are accessible. This guide is a helpful resource for library staff and patrons alike to help ensure your Microsoft creations are accessible.

Accessible Procurement Webinar

Join Kerry Anderson and Kim Johnson from the Public Library Services Branch (PLSB) of the Alberta Government and Laetitia Mfamobani from the National Network for Equitable Library Service testing team as they talk about accessible procurement. The topics include how to incorporate accessibility into the procurement process and contracts.

Organization of Schemas

This uniquely developer-focused resource can help us create machine-readable metadata about almost anything! This includes if a book is accessible or not and in what way.

Accessible Fonts

There are a lot of varying opinions on how to do accessible fonts. There is no uniform consensus, but there are some general guidelines for publishers and presenters to pay attention to.

Checklist: Adding Alternative Text and Long Descriptions

If your documents, websites, or digital materials (emails, social media posts, programming materials, etc.) have images, gifs, graphics, charts, graphs, maps, and tables, you must add alternative text to describe them. Long descriptions are needed as well for more complex images.

Social Media Platforms Webinar

Watch the Social Media Platform webinar to learn about multiple platforms’ accessibility advantages and barriers, with recorded demonstrations of the barriers in select platforms.

Accessibility Etiquette in the Library Panel Discussion

The Accessibility Etiquette panel brings together a group of experts to talk about their positive and negative library experiences, how those experiences could have been improved, with suggestions on how to do so.

Accessible Spreadsheet Checklist

This outline discusses and provides guidelines for creating accessible spreadsheets – in Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, and Apple Numbers. Accessible spreadsheets create an inclusive experience and ensure the information is understandable for all library staff and patrons.

Accessibility Overlays and Accessibility

This resource describes and demonstrates why accessibility overlays prevent your website from being accessible. Websites or digital content can be accessible to screen readers and other assistive technologies by following accessibility standards and guidelines.

Website Accessibility Checklist

Creating an accessible website is crucial to ensure all users can access your website effectively. To simplify the process of familiarizing with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, we compiled a checklist which provides recommendations for making web content accessible.

Developing an Accessibility Plan Toolkit

The Developing an Accessibility Plan Toolkit is designed to guide libraries in meeting the accessibility plan requirements outlined in the Accessible BC Act but is also useful for any library creating or updating its accessibility plan.

Making Events Accessible

This resource offers advice and guidance for making events accessible and is designed to be used by event organizers, speakers, and participants. Library staff should use this resource when planning or participating in events.

Checklist: Email Accessibility

This checklist contains best practices to ensure that people with multiple print disabilities can easily consume the content of an email. Follow this checklist to make your emails accessible!

Checklist: Creating Accessible Presentations

When creating presentations, ensuring the file and the content you present are accessible is essential so everyone can access and understand the information you are discussing. The webinar series focuses on three presentation programs – Microsoft PowerPoint, Apple Keynote, and Google Slides.

Creating Accessible Presentations: Features and Tools Webinar Recording

The second webinar in our four-part Creating Accessible Presentations series talks about many of the features and tools available in PowerPoint, Google Slides, and Keynote. This presentation discusses topics including tables, animations, annotations, comments, and more.