Website Presentation Transcript

February 2022

Contents

1. Welcome message and introduction
2. Homepage
3. Curated accessibility resources
   1. View all Curated Resources page
   2. Curated Accessibility Resource Example
4. Training resources
   1. Training Resource Example
5. Searching and Filtering for Resources
6. Community Events
7. About
8. Contact Us
9. Closing Statement

Welcome Message

Hello and welcome everyone!

My name is Megan Sellmer. I work as the Web and Usability Assistant at the National Network for Equitable Library Service.

Today I will be talking about and guiding you through the Public Library Resource Center website, AccessibleLibraries.ca. I’ll also describe how you can find and filter through the information on the site.

The Public Library Resource Centre is a website focused on educating and training library staff on the importance of accessibility in public libraries. The website’s resources will continue to grow, so we suggest bookmarking the site and checking back frequently to see what’s new!

This website is a collaborative project, funded by the Government of Canada and co-led by the Centre for Equitable Library Access (CELA) and the National Network for Equitable Library Service (NNELS) in partnership with eBOUND.

This project has strived to make the Public Library Resource Center website as accessible as possible for assistive technologies including screen readers and screen magnification software. Persons with print disabilities tested the website throughout the development process and before new features were added, to make sure it was as accessible as possible.

This website aims to create a balance between visual appeal and ease of access. For example, the site uses heading levels for navigation with screen readers. And the site is also simple in layout for people who use screen magnification software. The overall goal is that all users are able to access content.

I hope you enjoy this video!

We will begin on the Accessible Libraries homepage.

AccessibleLibraries.ca Homepage

Screen Description:

• The homepage and all other pages of the website have three menu bars - the first two run across the top of the page and the third runs across the bottom of the page.
• The top bar is navy blue and has two small icon links, on the right side of the page. The first a white circle with a navy blue “I”, is to our Facebook page and the second icon link, a white circle with a navy blue bird, is to our Twitter accounts.
• If you would like to follow us:
  • Our Facebook account is BibliosAccessiblesLibraries
  • Our Twitter account is BibliosAccess
• The second and main menu bar has the Accessible Libraries logo at the top left of the page and the main menu options are located to the right of the logo. From left to right they are:
  • Curated Accessible Resources
  • Training Resources
  • Community Events
  • About
  • Contact Us
• The AccessibleLibraries.ca logo is made up of interconnected different coloured triangles. The triangle colours are blue, purple, teal, red, and yellow. Each of the triangle colours represents a different disability. Clicking on the logo will also bring you back to the AccessibleLibraries.ca homepage.
• After the main menu bar is the website title, Accessible Libraries, in large black font in the middle of the page. And below that there is a brief introductory message.
• The menu at the bottom of the page has links to change the language of the site.

AccessibleLibraries.ca is available in French and English.

When you select the French link, you are taken to BibliosAccessibles.ca. The French version of this site will be reviewed in a similar upcoming video tutorial.

Skip links are available on the website. These are links at the beginning of the website hypertext that let those who use assistive technologies and keyboard navigation skip over the main menu to the main content.

The top menu is a landmark, and the menu items are links. A screen reader can use the link command to access the navigational menu options to move through the site.

AccessibleLibraries.ca provides two types of resources to support your library's accessibility needs: curated accessibility and training resources.

I’ll describe the curated accessibility resources first.

Curated Accessibility Resources

To access these resources click on the “Curated accessibility resources” link located on the middle-left side of the main menu.

[Navigate to the curated accessibility resource page]

The curated accessibility resources, link to external sites that provide trusted information on accessibility. These resources include guidelines and best practices that will help libraries better serve patrons with disabilities.

Screen Description:

• After clicking on the “Curated Accessibility Resources” main menu link, you are brought to a landing page that describes what to expect in the resources and how to search them.
• At the end of the description, we have provided a link to view all curated accessibility resources so that you can browse all the resources available on the site.
• On the right side of the web page is a search and filter feature that we will describe in more detail later in the presentation.

I'll now click on the “view all curated resources” link (at the end of the text) to review some of the available resources.

View all Curated Resources page

[Click on the “View all Curated Resources” link]

Screen Description:

• The curated accessibility resources are organized in a list format down the middle of the page. A thin light grey rectangular border surrounds both the title and excerpted introductory text for each resource.
• There are 20 resources listed per page.

The curated accessibility resources are run through an assessment matrix before being added to the website. The matrix was developed by the team at AccessibleLibraries.ca to objectively rate the resources and ensure that the information included in this website is relevant for library staff.

Clicking on one of the curated accessibility resources in this list will take you to a web page with additional information about the resource, and it provides a link to the external site. I will select the 7 Principles of Universal Design (located near the top of this list) as an example to look at further.

Curated Accessibility Resource Example

[Click on a curated accessibility resource the 7 Principles of Universal Design]

Screen Description:

• For each curated accessibility resource, we provide you with a brief introduction and a summary of the information.
• The summary is located beneath the heading "Quick facts."
• For the 7 Principles of Universal Design, you can scan the quick facts section (a summary of the 7 principles) to decide if you want to visit the external site.
• Below the “Quick Facts” there is a link to the resource, and then a “References” area, to cite the information described on the page.

If you have any accessibility resources that you would like to share or you think should be added to AccessibleLibraries.ca, please send them to us using our contact page or via our email address, info@accessiblelibraries.ca and we’ll get them up on the site!

I’d like to take this time to note that, at the date of publication of this video, all links to third party sites are considered true and correct. However, we cannot guarantee their continued accuracy.

The next area of the website we will look at is the training resources.

Training Resources

To access the training resources landing page I will click on the link “Training Resources” in the middle of the main menu at the top of the page.

[Navigate to the Training Resources web page]

The AccessibleLibraries.ca resources were developed in consultation with library professionals and with input from people who have lived experiences with print disabilities. The information in training resources will help library staff make their libraries more accessible for all patrons.

Screen Description:

• The training resources landing page provides introduction text about the training materials.
• Within the text description there are three links. The first will take you to the Accessible Libraries YouTube page, and the second and third links go to the current training resources available on the site.

At the time this video was created, there were three training resources available on the website, Accessibility 101 - the recorded webinar, written summary, and presentation slides. There are more training resources in development so please check back with us soon!

I’ll select the Accessibility 101 presentation slides link in the text to take a closer look at a training resource page.

Training Resource Example

[Click on the Accessibility 101 presentation slides link]

Screen Description:

• The Accessibility 101 presentation slides page outlines the topics covered in the presentation. It also provides a link for you to download the slides.
• Below that information, there is a link to the webinar video.

All training resources will be available for libraries and library staff to either view or download.

The training resources on this website are produced by the Public Library Resources Centre (PLARC) team. All PLARC original materials fall under the Creative Commons with Attribution Share Alike licensing.

There are many more training resources currently in development. Future training resources include:

• How to create accessible social media posts
• How to make word, PDFs and other documents accessible
• And, learning more about different disabilities and strategies for providing services.

So bookmark this website and keep checking back for more content!

On the right side of this page and on the curated accessibility page, there is a very helpful search and filter tool

Searching and Filtering for Resources

The search and filter feature is available on the right side of all resource pages. This tool will retrieve both accessibility resources and training materials by searching for keywords and providing filters to narrow down your search results.

[Stay on the same webpage move focus to the search and filter area of the page]

To show you how this feature works. I will now enter a search term and select filters.

Screen Description:

• Working from the top of the search and filter tool and moving downwards:
  • The first field is a search text box where you can enter any search term. I will enter the search term “WCAG” also know as “WCAG” [First say each letter, then pronounce the acronym]
  • Currently, our search function does not support misspellings, so please make sure that your search terms are spelled correctly.
  • Beneath the search text box, there is a choice of filters.
  • The filters available are:
    • Resource type, which let’s you search for training resources, curated accessibility resources, or all resource types. I’m going to leave it on the default option, “All resource types.”
    • The next filter is “Date Added”, which lets you input a date range for the search. I only want to view resources that have been added to the website in the last two months, so I will input the date [November 20 to January 20].
    • The library role filter, which lets you search for resources that would be most helpful for you specific work role. The default option is all library roles. I will select the library role “Accessibility Specialist” for this search.
    • The subject filter let’s you narrow down resources by subject. I’ll select “Digital Accessibility.
    • Format is the final filter, which lets you choose the training resource format you would like to access. I’m going to leave this on All formats.
      • If you select this option there will not be any curated accessibility resources in the search results because they don't have an assigned format.
  • There is a red submit button located just below the filters.

  I want to take the time to note that below the search and filter submit button (on the lower right side of the web page), there is tag cloud you can use to navigate content by subject.

  The filter options will grow as more resources are added to this site.

  I’ll now click the submit button to search the resources.

  [Click the submit button]

  This search returned seven results. The search results are organized alphabetically and presented in a list format. A thin light grey rectangular border surrounds the resource title and excerpted introductory text.

  Now let’s navigate over to the community events page.

  Community Events

  To access the Community Events page, click on the “Community Events” link in the middle right section of main menu, located at the top of the page.

  [Navigate to the Community Events web page]

  Screen Description:

  • On this page we have listed accessibility community events, such as webinars and conferences. The events have been sorted into three sections AccessibleLibraries.ca Events, Community Events, and Past Events.
    • The AccessibleLibraries.ca Events are webinars and training resources we are developing especially for you! There will be more events added, so please check back soon!
    • The Community events are webinars and conferences related to accessibility and libraries that we think you may be interested in.
    • The list of Past Events link to webinars that have been previously presented and have now made the video recording or slides available to view.

  If you have any accessibility community events that you think should be added to this page, we have provided a form below the video for you to fill out!

  Let’s move to the About page to learn more about this project.

  About

  To learn more about AccessibleLibraries.ca, click on the “About” link on the right side of the main menu, located at the top of the page.

  [Navigate to the About web page]

  Screen Description:

  • The About page describes the Accessible Libraries website origins and development. This includes information about our partners and the goal of the site “To create a consolidated nation-wide Accessible Library Resource website focused on awareness and training for library staff so that they understand the importance of accessibility in digital books and the interfaces that are used to find them.”
  • Additional information covered on this page includes the curated accessibility resources matrix and more information about training resources.

  If you would like to know more about the Public Library Resource center website that is not on the about page, you can contact us using the handy form that I’ll navigate to now.

  Contact Us

  To go to the contact form, click on the “Contact us” link on the right side of the main menu at the top of the page.

  [Navigate to the contact us web page]

  Screen Description:

  • The contact us form has three fields: name, email, and message. The email and message fields are required to submit the form, but you do not have to provide your name.
  • We have also added a link to sign up for our mailing list. It’s located above the form fields. If you join our mailing list, we will send you updates on the project and inform you when new webinars are scheduled.

  Please use this page to contact us with any question, suggestion, or comment you have. We would love to hear from you!

  Closing Statement

  Thank you for watching this walkthrough of the Public Library Resource Center website, AccessibleLibraries.ca. We hope you enjoyed this video and invite you to start exploring our website.

  Below this video there is a link to a short survey for you to provide feedback. We hope you will take the time to fill it out because we would love to know how you think we’re doing.

  And if you found this video helpful, please like us on Facebook and/or twitter!

  I hope you have a great day!

  Thank you.