Part I. We will discuss how publishers, aggregators, and libraries can partner to provide a better experience for users. We will discuss the consolidated results of a number of studies and audits of eBook accessibility, limitations and options for creating accessible PDF and EPUB eBook files, the real-life impact of these limitations on users, and what skillsets we can help to develop and disseminate to help close the gap. Part II. We will discuss the methods to assess accessibility of your eBooks, website or other electronic resources. We will look at both automated testing systems and usability testing. After this session we hope you will have an understanding of how these two approaches can be leveraged to help optimize the research experience for your users.

1. From Content Creation to Content Delivery:
Partnering to Improve E-book Accessibility
Emma Waecker, Melissa Fulkerson, Jill Power and
JaEun Ku

2. PART1:
Content Creation and Delivery
Emma Waecker and
Melissa Fulkerson

3. What is accessibility?
Accessibility refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments
for people with disabilities.

4. Who benefits from accessibility?

5. Accessibility of e-book resources is twofold
E-book Content
• Content creators need to include:
• Semantic tags for document
structure like <header>
• Alternative text for images
• Captions for figures
• Semantic markup for tables
like <figure>
• Consistent pagination
• Choose the best format: EPUB vs.
PDF
E-book platform
Websites or platforms need to:
• Retain publisher's accessibility
features
• Include meaningful structure
on webpages
• Provide options to skip to the
main content
• Develop and test with various
assistive technologies

6. EBSCO publisher content survey
Publishers creating EPUB 69%
Delivery volume from EPUB-providing publishers 87%
Publishers planning to meet WCAG 2.0 accessibility standards 49%
Lack of expertise / time
45%
Lack of knowledge
21%
Technical / system
limitations
20%
Budget restrictions
18%

7. Big 10 Academic Alliance evaluations
Most common accessibility issues across platforms
Scanned or
untagged
documents
Focus
management
problems
Keyboard
functionality
problems
Insufficient
color contrast
Missing image
descriptions /
alt text
Source data from Big 10 site

8. Jisc platform and publisher audit 2016
Assessment dimensions
Support documentation
Appearance
Navigation
Screen reader & text to
speech compatibility
Access
Images
Source data from Jisc site

9. Jisc platform and publisher audit 201665.15%
46.23%
51.82%
48.90%
41.77%
48.79%
59.65%
46.89%
43.94%
40.00%
55.86%
45.42%
49.69%
41.34%
34.48%
38.85%
42.07%
48.11%
41.15%
39.51%
32.21%
34.34%
35.66%
34.93%
34.43%
36.11%
29.41%
29.09%
33.33%
36.58%
40.20%
33.33%
36.67%
30.85%
34.36%
40.02%
34.26%
38.21%
37.50%
39.62%
31.85%
32.48%
31.84%
17.65%
73.48%
83.65%
83.64%
78.33%
79.75%
78.48%
63.16%
72.05%
77.58%
70.91%
61.42%
65.41%
70.99%
70.02%
74.41%
69.42%
58.78%
51.89%
53.59%
61.55%
66.21%
60.26%
61.48%
55.08%
53.75%
52.37%
52.94%
60.85%
60.95%
53.74%
45.10%
53.70%
50.30%
52.46%
47.95%
47.88%
47.21%
45.44%
37.50%
43.40%
39.85%
36.85%
41.69%
56.86%
10.00%
20.00%
30.00%
40.00%
50.00%
60.00%
70.00%
80.00%
90.00%
100.00%
Unweighted Average Score Average Score Average Minimum Potential Score Average Maximum Potential Score
Source data from Jisc site

10. What can we do?
Train our teams*
Perceivable P
Operable O
Understandable U
Robust R
Advocate and prioritize
Focus on EPUB
Involve our users
*More information on WebAIM's POUR principles

11. Production Workflow
• Challenges
• PDF as format more
challenging for accessibility
• Proper tagging of images
• Sending content to
aggregators, ensuring
features are included
• Author Guidelines
• Manuscript guidelines include
requirements for image captions,
tagging etc.
• Vendor Workflow
• Vendors take raw book files and
create final products, including
script writing for videos based on
written content
• Output Types
• Epub/PDF main output type

12. Epub vs PDF Comparison
Feature EPUB PDF
Integrates Web Standards – Dynamic
Linking
Y N
Reflowable Text (Optimized Display) Y N
Accessibility Standards Y Y*
Searchable Images, Formulas, Tables Y N
Support for Non-Roman Languages Y N
Adjustable Font Size, Background
Color, Text
Y N
Audio, Video, Quizzes Y N
Print-Corollary Pagination N* Y

13. 2018 Main Focus Areas
• EPub3/PDF
• Continuous improvement to get
closer to Benetech's Born Accessible
Certified
• Accessible book/journal content on
ScienceDirect
• Web Applications
• More teams integrating accessibility
testing before launch
• Enhanced reporting/scorecards
• WCAG 2.0 Level AA Compliance
• Customer – Facing Activity
• Continue to refine VPAT service package
• Streamline remediation process
• Staff Training
• Belting system rolled out to 100 staff
• Accessibility Guild – cross functional team
• Alt-Text
• Goal is alt-text in workflow as "business as
usual"

14. Awards, Partnerships, and Publications

15. PART2:
Accessibility Testing
Jill Power and JaEun Ku

16. Best Practices
Accessibility Testing

17. Automated Testing
A Good Starting Point

18. WebAIM WAVE
Part II : Accessibility Testing

19. HTML CodeSniffer
Part II : Accessibility Testing

20. Deque Corporation’s aXe
Part II : Accessibility Testing

21. Automated tests can reliably
evaluate roughly 30% of
accessibility issues.
-Hiram Kuykendall, MicroAssist
Source:https://www.microassist.com/digital-accessibility/role-web-accessibility-testing-tools/
Part II : Accessibility Testing

22. What can be tested with Browser Extensions
• Presence of alt-text for images
• Presence of link text for links, redundant links
• Presence of form labels
• Presence of page title, language indicator
• Presence of landmarks
• Contrast ratios
• Proper table structure and tags
• Proper semantic structure, appropriately nested markup
Part II : Accessibility Testing

23. Other Automated Accessibility Testing Solutions
Part II : Accessibility Testing

24. Manual Testing
Walk the Walk

25. What can be tested with manual testing?
• Content within alt-text associated with figures and images
• Content of link text
• Tab order of content on the page
• Page structure using headings and landmarks
• Impact of resizing or magnifying the page
• Consistency of navigation and interactive elements across product
• Comprehension level of content on the page

26. Impact Factors
• IOS desktop
• IOS mobile
• IOS tablet
• Android mobile
• Android tablet
• Desktop
• IE
• Firefox
• Chrome
• Safari
• Vision
• Hearing
• Mobility
• Learning
• Cognitive
• JAWS
• NVDA
• VoiceOver
• Narrator
• ZoomText
• WindowEyes
• Magnifier
• Claro
• ReadSpeaker TTS
• Read&Write
• Kurzwell
Part II : Accessibility Testing

27. Screen Readers
• JAWS
• NVDA
• VoiceOver
• Narrator
Part II : Accessibility Testing
Source: https://webaim.org/projects/screenreadersurvey7/

28. Screen Reader/ Browser Combinations
Part II : Accessibility Testing
Source: https://webaim.org/projects/screenreadersurvey7/

29. Mobile Screen Readers
Part II : Accessibility Testing
Source: https://webaim.org/projects/screenreadersurvey7/

30. Screenreader Standard Navigation
Part II : Accessibility Testing
Source: https://webaim.org/projects/screenreadersurvey7/

31. Compatibility: Magnification, Color checkers
• Keyboard Ctrl +
• ZoomText
• Windows Magnifier
• Mobile device built-in
accessibility
• Webaim Contrast Checker
• Invert colors
Part II : Accessibility Testing

32. Compatibility with Learning Tools
• Kurzweil 3000
• Read & Write
• ClaroRead, ClaroSpeak
• ReadSpeaker
Part II : Accessibility Testing

33. Usability Testing
Where the Rubber meets the Road

34. Success
• Interviews, Focus groups
• Surveys
• Hands-on observation
• Encourage feedback/Compensation
• Partnerships - Disabilities office
• Partnerships – Vendors, providers
• Partnerships – Faculty
Part II : Accessibility Testing

35. Library Digital Publishing
Accessibility Challenges
Part II : Accessibility Testing

36. Accessibility Challenges
• Multiple E-book platforms to
maintain and support
• More unusual type of content
(i.e. tableau data, animation,
video and audio)
• Lack of accessibility expertise in
open publishing platform by
developers and library staff
Accessibility testing
knowledge is important...
When adressing the
accessibility issues in the
publishing workflow as well as
encouraging authors to follow
accessibility best practice

37. WCAG Heading
Violation :
Skipped
heading directly
from H1 to H3
Open Monograph Press
Part II : Accessibility Testing
Accessibility Bookmarklet Tool

38. Keyboard Trap :
Cannot access sub
menu items with
only a keyboard
Publishing Platform: Scalar
Part II : Accessibility Testing
Manual Testing

39. Focus lost in
Keyboard navigation:
Unable to find where
the focus is: to
activate the link or
the button
Publishing Platform: Pressbooks
Part II : Accessibility Testing
Manual Testing

40. Provide E-resources for Inclusive Learning and Research
Desirable Accessibility Knowledge
Preference to "Born
Accessible" digital content
Understanding (in)accessibility
and conveying that knowledge
to the authors
Auditor guidance for e-book,
Request accessibility
roadmap beyond VPAT
Accessibility testing methods,
tools (and guidelines)
Part II : Accessibility Testing
Feedback loop beyond bug
tracking system
with eBook publisher/developer​

41. "Born Accessible" Digital
A11yFirst Editor Project

42. Demo: https://a11yfirst.library.illinois.edu/
• U of I library Innovation Fund Project
• Open Source WYSIWYG Editor which can be
added to an e-platform
• Accessibility is embedded in the design to
create accessible contents (Heading, Link,
Image, Style, Accessibility help content)
• Also utilizes the CKEditor Source Accessibility
Checker tool
A11yFirst Editor
Part II : Accessibility Testing

43. Decorative images do
not require alt text
(e.g., icons, borders
and corners, an image
that is part of a text
link)
Decorative Image Type
Part II : Accessibility Testing

44. Simple image require
Alt text (a short
description), less than
100 characters
Simple Image Type
Part II : Accessibility Testing

45. Complex images such as
graphs, diagrams, and
charts require both a text
alternative and a long
description
Complex Image Type
Part II : Accessibility Testing

46. Accessibility Help:
Why and How to
make accessible
images
Accessible Image Plugin
Part II : Accessibility Testing

47. Thank you!
Presenters
• Emma Waecker: ewaecker@ebsco.com
• Melissa Fulkerson: m.fulkerson@elsevier.com
• JaEun Jemma Ku: jku@Illinois.edu
• Jill Power: jpower@ebsco.com