The Library: Accessibility Statements: LLI

Accessibility Statement for Libraries and Learning Innovation

Accessibility Statement for systems and websites managed by Libraries and Learning Innovation (LLI) at Leeds Beckett University

LLI uses a number of third party systems and websites to deliver its service to students and staff of the University. We want as many people as possible to use these and we work with platform owners and content creators to ensure this.

The table below:

lists these systems and websites
links to individual accessibility statements or notes on accessibility
provides additional information about compliance

Name, function and provider of system / site	Link to Accessibility Statement / information on accessibility	Additional information
Library Website and associated functions (FAQs / Room Bookings / Tutorials / Chat) (Springshare)	Springshare Accessibility Statement	We have manually audited a sample of our Library website pages and are working on a small number of areas of non-compliance. We are continuing to evaluate some of the associated functions and will review these are they are used for new service developments such as Click and Collect. We have created comprehensive guidelines for creating accessible content as this is provided by a wide range of LLI staff. A Springshare Accessibility Statement was originally produced in-house for the Library website and associated functions in June 2020.
MyBeckett (Blackboard)	Accessibility in Blackboard Learn	Blackboard Ally is now available to enable academic staff to check the accessibility of the material they upload to our Virtual Learning Environment and for students to convert material into accessible format. Training has been made available to University staff in the use of Ally and to support them in creating accessible content. Online support is also available for students including a Blackboard Ally FAQ.
Skills for Learning (Springshare)	Skills for Learning accessibility statement	The Skills for Learning website uses the Springshare platform used by the Library website but has been customised so a separate audit has been carried out. An in-house statement was produced to coincide with the launch of the website in September 2020.
Reading Lists (Talis Aspire)	Talis Web Accessibility Statement	Talis Aspire provide our reading list system and each reading list has a link to the supplier's statement from within the system toolbar. We create alternative format reading lists to ensure they are accessible to all students. 65 students were registered and 228 reading lists shared during the 2019/20 academic year. If we are unable to obtain an accessible format of an item which is required by a student we digitise it on request and produce an OCRed searchable PDF.
Discover (Ebsco)	Ebsco Accessibility - Navigation guide Ebsco Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) guidelines statement	Discover is the Library's academic search engine, searching over 90% of resources available including books from the Library Catalogue and most electronic journals and databases.
Catalogue (Sirsi Dynix)	Library Catalogue Accessibility Statement	We created an in-house Accessibility Statement for the Library Catalogue in June 2020 as we have been unable to obtain one from the supplier. LLI will be introducing a new Library Management System and Catalogue which includes adherence to WCAG in 2021.
PebblePad (PebblePad)	PebblePad Accessibility Overview	PebblePad is a portfolio system with content mainly uploaded by students.
Turnitin (Turnitn)	Turnitin Commitment to Accessibility	Turnitin is a web-based text matching system used by many universities worldwide. Tutors will usually ask students to submit work via Turnitin submission areas in MyBeckett. Turnitin helps with the development of academic writing and referencing skills. Information about accessing a text-only version of Turnitin Similarity Reports and some of the current known limitations were been added to our student FAQS in June 2020.
Repository (Eprints)	Eprints Accessibility Statement	The Leeds Beckett Repository provides open access to research outputs at the University, as required by funders and permitted by publishers and copyright law. It manages the full text (Word/PDF) files uploaded from Symplectic and is the external, online collection of Leeds Beckett research outputs.
Research Information System (Symplectic)	Example Symplectic accessibility statement Additional Symplectic accessibility information	Symplectic Elements is a research management system that collects research activity in one place. It is an internal database of research records and is used to generate the list of publications that appears on online staff profiles and to provide reports on research activity across the University. The supplier has provided an example Symplectic accessibility statement which is hosted on their support site. Anyone with a leedsbeckett.ac.uk email address may register themselves with the Symplectic support site in order to access this. There is also additional Symplectic accessibility information on their support site (Sept 2020).
Ebook Collections - various suppliers	eBook Collections - links to Accessibility information	LLI was a lead partner on the ebook accessibility project and continues to work closely with suppliers ensuring that the ebooks were purchase are accessible. Each eBook platform has its accessibility FAQ containing a link to the platform Accessibility Statement. These are linked to from the eBook Collections and the Database A-Z page.
Ejournal Collections - various suppliers	Journals A-Z Databases A-Z	LLI uses preferred licensing guidelines when purchasing and renewing electronic resources which includes key accessibility measures. We have liaised with JISC Collections, other institutions and suppliers to obtain statements from individual publishers and by September 2020 had accessibility statements for 97% of the electronic resources we subscribe to. These are linked to under the relevant entry via our Journals A-Z and Databases A-Z lists. We are continuing to liaise with the remaining suppliers and will add their statements as they become available.
Digitised readings created under the CLA licence	CLA Accessibility Policy	Digitised reading created by LLI's Digitisation service under the CLA licence are added to online reading lists and to MyBeckett. The files created are OCRed searchable PDFs.
E-theses		Electronic formats of PhD theses supplied by third party (students). Information on accessibility is included in our E-theses and copyright guide.
Teach learn staff web pages (Sitecore)	Sitecore Accessibility Information	The TeachLearn pages for staff are held on the University's content management system, Sitecore.
Library blog (Sitecore)	Sitecore Accessibility Information	The Library blog is held on the University's content management system, Sitecore.
Social media applications (Various)		Although we are aware that social media platforms are out of scope we upload accessible content where possible and train our staff on accessibility.
Archive and Special Collections web pages	Springshare Accessibility Statement	These pages are created within the same content management system as our Library website but have a customised template. This is being updated for autumn 2020 and an individual Accessibility Statement may be provided at the same time.

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

The Library’s software page provides information on assistive software which may help in using our systems and websites. 

How accessible this website is

We know some parts of the websites and systems we use are not fully accessible - details are provided in the individual Accessibility Statements.

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on the content of our systems and websites in a different format (for example accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille) please email libraryaltformats@leedsbeckett.ac.uk. We'll consider your request and get back to you within 5 working days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of our systems and websites. If you find any problems or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact h.loughran@leedsbeckett.ac.uk.

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

The Library supports the use of The Next Generation Text Service. Alternatively you can email us or contact us by online chat..

You can find out all the ways you can get in touch with us on the Library website Contact Us page.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Leeds Beckett University is committed to making its websites accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Compliance status

The websites and systems used by LLI are partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Please note these are a sample of non-compliances; individual Statements will provide more information.

Non-accessible content

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Some of the ways in which our websites and systems are not yet compliant with the Regulations are: 

Scans created for our digitised readings service are not always fully accessible. This may fail WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.1.1 (Non-text Content) and 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships). We are hoping to purchase a new scanner and improved software for future outputs. 
Some images do not have a text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (Non-text content). We plan to add text alternatives for all images by September 2020. When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.
Heading levels are not correctly assigned in some content. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships). We continue to work on identifying and resolving these instances.
Some link text needs re-wording. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4 (Link Purpose (In Context)). We continue to work on identifying and resolving these instances.
One page is missing a 'Skip to main content' link. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.1 (Bypass Blocks). We are working on rectifying this.
Some interactive content could not be accessed via keyboard navigation during testing. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1 (Keyboard). We are currently investigating this issue further.
There are a small number of instances where text does not have sufficient contrast against the background colour, making it more difficult to read. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.3 (Contrast (Minimum)). We are currently investigating this issue further.

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

External content

We link to external pages and other Leeds Beckett University pages which may not be accessible.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We created a roadmap towards compliance in September 2019:

We assigned a staffing resource to this in October 2019 and supplemented this in June 2020.
We identified tools and methodology for audits. We link to supplier Accessibility Statements where possible (see the table above) and have undertaken manual audits via sampling where these are not available or where we have extensively customised their products.
The complexity of manually checking our websites and systems means the work continues to take longer than initially estimated but this has been accompanied by an in-depth understanding of best practice in improving accessibility which has also been shared with colleagues across our service via a variety of training opportunities.
Accessibility compliance is now a key part of our requirements gathering for technology procurement and as part of the recent shift to more digital learning and teaching we’ve enhanced our digital ecosystem with compliant technologies, and tools that enhance the accessibility / inclusivity of our existing technologies.
We have created this overarching Statement to document our approach and progress and the separate Accessibility Statements document actions taken towards compliance.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 23 September 2020. It was last reviewed on 23 September 2020.

Note: This statement replaces the Statement prepared on 20 September 2019 which was in the previous version of the template published by Government Digital Services.

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