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Simpson Library is committed to the accessibility of the library's collections, services, and facilities. We partner with the Office of Disabiity Resources (ODR) to ensure students will seek out Simpson Library as a resource, and let us know when they run into challenges that limit their access to our services.
As Simpson Library is part of public university in the state of Virginia, we will be required to comply with the digital accessibility regulations of Title II of the ADA, and regulations set forth by Virginia’s Information Technology Access Act. Accordingly, Simpson Library uses WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines as a baseline for determining web and digital accessibility. We cannot guarantee that every resource at Simpson Library will be fully accessible, but we are working toward this goal with our vendors and other internal and external partners.
Web Compliance
To fulfill its commitment to accessibility, regular automated testing of our website alerts Library staff to accessibility issues, broken links, and other web governance issues. Libraries staff also manually test web content to ensure compatibility with the desktop and mobile devices, various browsers, assistive technologies, and more.
The Library website is created with CMS products from Springshare LLC which provides an accessibility statement and VPATs for its products. If you are experiencing accessibility issues on the site, please let us know, so we can look into the issue.
Digital Special Collections and Archives
Our Special Collections and Archives department produces a number of digital collections available for public viewing and usage. We build these collections using platforms provided by third-party vendors Bepress Digital Commons, Preservica, and ArchivesSpace (links lead to these vendors' Accessibility Statements). That said, we recognize that some of these digital archival collections and artifacts are not fully accessible. Our librarians are working to determine which of these collections can be remediated and which of them might fall under Title II's exceptions.
Accessibility Checkers & Testing Tools
Many applications are available to help improve digital accessibility and check WCAG conformance. However, it’s important to note that no application can guarantee compliance (regardless of developer claims to the contrary). Manual testing and remediation by someone familiar with digital accessibility, WCAG, and assistive technologies is necessary to ensure compliance.
The following applications are recommended tools for digital accessibility testing.
