December, 2011. Rev 7, 4.12.12
Creating and maintaining an accessible web site is an ongoing Libraries priority and responsibility. Our goal is:
The goal of Phase 1 of the Libraries’ Accessibility Plan is to have the Libraries’ web site (all pages, documents and media within the www.libraries.psu.edu domain, approximately 4,500 pages) and LionSearch meet WCAG 2.0 AA guidelines by the October 15, 2012 deadline as stated in the NFB Agreement.
The original audit was conducted centrally by AIT committee members using HiSoftware’s Compliance Sheriff. The audit was done on the top 250 pages of the Libraries web site.
The Libraries are using two tools for automated accessibility checking of our web pages (both template and content). The SiteImprove/SiteCheck service has been in place since remediation began in August 2011. In February, 2012, when the University purchased the license to HiSoftware Compliance Sheriff, the Libraries began using the University-wide validation tool to be consistent with the remainder of the University’s Budget Executive units. HiSoftware’s Compliance Sheriff will check Web sites for WCAG 2.0 AA compliance, as well as accessibility of content such as PDF’s and Microsoft office files.
In addition to our automated checking, we employ an Assistive Technology Expert, who does regular, manual reviews of our pages and content using JAWs. Based on Google Analytics, the most visited pages and assets are checked first.
The CMS Development Team will correct any accessibility issues that occur in the web site templates or components that authors use to add content to their pages. Content authors need to be concerned only with making sure the content they create is accessible. Where code causing accessibility issues is written by Adobe CQ and cannot be accessed by the developers, the Development Team will work with Adobe to correct these issues.
The Web Accessibility team will perform most of the content remediation. After author accessibility training begins in April, trained authors will take over page remediation on those pages for which they are responsible.
The Libraries web pages include a number of assets including word, pdf, excel, powerpoint and video files. All of the assets will be made accessible or will be made available in alternate format by request.
The Libraries is working closely with Serials Solutions to determine accessibility concerns of LionSearch (Summon). Summon is on a 2-week development cycle, and the Libraries will work with the Assistive Technology Expert and provide feedback to Serials Solutions to ensure this product meets the WCAG 2.0 AA guidelines.
September, 2011
October, 2011
November, 2011
January, 2012
February, 2012
March
April, 2012
June, 2012
July, 2012
October, 2012
TBD
Author Training including:
Libraries faculty and staff are encouraged to participate in numerous trainings being provided to the University community on web accessibility, creation of accessible information; captioning, and plans for strategies to meet the Policy AD-69.
The Penn State University Libraries is working closely with the Adobe CQ5 development team on a number of development issues surrounding accessibility. (see Adobe Success Story )
Summon is on a 2-week development cycle. After each bi-weekly release, the The Penn State University Libraries team reviews the Summon interface and does automated and manual checks on the search interface. The results are sent to the Summon developers to incorporate into their next development cycle.
The Penn State University Libraries worked closely with Site Improve on their beta release of the WCAG 2.0 Web Governance Suite, including testing and feedback.
The University Libraries is working to coordinate a collaboration between HiSoftware and Adobe to incorporate the HiSoftware API into the Adobe CQ5 procut workflow for in-page accessibility checking at the content author level.
In October, 2011, three web developers in I-Tech received a Libraries Innovation Microgrant for a “Screen Reader’s Guide to Navigating Online Library Resources”. The purpose of this project is to create a more welcoming online environment for our users with disabilities. We will produce context appropriate tip sheets for navigating and using key resources with screen readers. These guides will be discoverable by screen readers on entry points to key resources. Creating a Screen Reader’s Guide will allow users to independently and more easily navigate the Libraries’ web site as well as our third party tools such as database aggregators, e-journals, library software applications, etc. Prototyping of database guides was done through a Bednar internship in 2004. This project will continue that work and bring it into production. At the conclusion of the project, we’d like to collaborate and benchmark with other universities on this initiative.
