eAccessibility

DESCRIPTION

This highly interactive webinar includes information on processes and outcomes of the work of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Learn methods you can implement now to make your library a harder target for eAccessibility complaints.

You will also be able to compare your library to 620+ other mainly public libraries on key web accessibility success indicators. Learn about the supports a library needs to create and maintain an accessible digital footprint. Respondents include those who are already operating under a consent decree with the Department of Justice.

Reading about accessibility requirements can be dry work. eAccessibility implementation can feel burdensome or overwhelming, especially at first. Content authors who are not website administrators play a big role in compliance. This webinar shows both groups how screen reading software interprets digital material for users so you can understand how changes to your practices can make the biggest difference for them. 

You’ll also hear directly from four screen reader users, including one librarian. They talk about which aspects of eAccessibility impact them the most and what the current landscape is like. They also talk about how EDIA functions for visually impaired users on the web. Bring eAccessibility full circle for your library in this highly interactive webinar.

BIO

Sonya Schryer Norris has worked in eAccessibility since 1999. In 2016, she led the Library of Michigan web team through a two year remediation process after a Department of Justice civil rights complaint. Sonya then consulted with public libraries when they were investigated. In 2020-2022, she conducted a survey of over 600 public libraries on eAccessibility success indicators. Sonya has taught eAccessibility online and in person to thousands of library staff in all 50 states and internationally. She has presented on eAccessibility for ALA-CORE and PLA as well as the Library of Virginia. Sonya published on the public libraries eAccessibility survey with Jared Oates, COO of Niche Academy, in Computers in Libraries.

Cost: $500. Contact me to schedule a highly interactive webinar for your audience by emailing me at librarian@sonyanorris.com.

“Accessibility is a continuum, it’s not a binary thing where one site is accessible and another is not. It depends on so many factors. It depends on the site itself, how it was designed, it depends on the technology of the user, it depends on the user’s competency with that technology. Very rarely is there a site I would give a one star rating to.” – Al Puzzuoli, Accessibility Support Engineer, TPGI.

My Knowledge Base

I began writing accessible HTML in 1999 for a nine library network of Braille and Talking Book Libraries under the supervision of staff who used screen readers to access the Internet.

I served as the website administrator for the Library of Michigan for over 20 years. In 2014, they were the first state library agency required to sign a consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division after a web accessibility complaint. I have since implemented, enforced, and revisited methods to maintain digital accessibility in a library environment. 

In 2020, I introduced a poll of key web accessibility success indicators. The poll was distributed on the Niche Academy platform where the audience is primarily public library staff. Over the next 20 months, 627 respondents reported on their library’s web accessibility practices.

In 2022, I interviewed four assistive technology users on what’s most important to them when accessing a website. 

These two data sets demonstrated important markers of web accessibility success in libraries. They also showed that web content authors, and not just administrators, have a short but vital skills list that provide visually impaired site visitors the ability to access information.