Prioritizing Accessibility in the E-Resources Procurement Lifecycle: VPATs as a Practical Tool for E-Resource Acquisitions and Remediation Workflows at Academic Libraries
Authors
Advisors
Issue Date
Type
Keywords
Citation
Abstract
Libraries within academic institutions need to comply with federal disability law. Specifically, the Section 508 Amendment to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 requires electronic and information technology to be fully accessible to individuals with disabilities. Hence, Voluntary Product Accessibility Templates (VPATs), provided by vendors based on their reported compliance to the recently updated Section 508, are being collected by librarians. However, they can be difficult to understand and are not always reliable, so VPAT verification and functional testing are recommended. The purpose of this paper is to document how two major public university libraries are approaching VPATs in a workable and time-effective manner during e-resource acquisitions and remediation workflows.