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Legal: Accessibility statement

Accessibility statement for University of Hull Library Springshare 

 

This accessibility statement applies to Library content on the following sub-domains: 

  • Libguides.hull.ac.uk (includes SkillsGuides) 

  • Libcal.hull.ac.uk (includes Library workshop and seat booking)  

  • Libanswers.hull.ac.uk (Library Live Chat) 

  • LibWizard tools embedded into the Library Website or Canvas. 

 

This website is run by the University Library at the University of Hull We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to: 

  • change colours, contrast levels and fonts 

  • zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen 

  • navigate most of the website using just a keyboard 

  • navigate most of the website using speech recognition software 

  • listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver) 

 

We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand. 

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

 

How accessible this website is 

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible: 

In a small number of instances: 

  • Text has insufficient contrast against the background colour  

  • Headings are not in sequential descending order. 

  • Old pages may include images without alt text  

  • The current element is not always highlighted with enough contrast during keyboard navigation 

  • Fonts, colours, text line height and text spacing cannot be adjusted through in-built tools. These should be adaptable with assistive software. 

  • The zooming on LibCal pages may be limited  

  • Embedded videos from external providers may not have subtitles. Alternative textual content can be found on most pages. All Library-created videos offer subtitles or automated captions.  

  • Some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard and may lack labels that would support auto-fill 

  • A small number of embedded and interactive elements may lack name attributes and keyboard navigation.  

  • The SkillsGuide navigation buttons lack labels, alt text and discernible names. This is a duplication of the main navigation so does not impact your ability to progress to pages on the website.  

Feedback and contact information 

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read or audio recording: 

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 5 working days. 

Reporting accessibility problems with this website 

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact: skills@hull.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). 

Visiting us in person 

Our service desks have audio induction loops as do some of our teaching spaces. If you need to speak with a member of staff in an induction loop enabled space, please contact us in advance.  

You can let us know about any specific needs you have when signing up to our events and workshops.  

Using the relevant email address: 

Technical information about this website’s accessibility 

The University of Hull is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018. 

Compliance status  

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below. 

Non-accessible content 

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations 

Please note that some of these areas of non-compliance relate to AAA standards to which we aspire. They are recorded here to reflect our roadmap to increased compliance.  

Some of the headings on this website are missing levels in heading order. While this does not impact the ability for screen readers to navigate the website, missing levels fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships). Some of this is due to technical constraints of the externally provided system which we have raised with the provider and are awaiting a fix. 

Some images do not have a text alternative, so people using a screen reader cannot access the information. This relates to older pages on our LibGuides or archival content. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (non-text content). When we publish new content we’ll make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards. 

In a small number of instances, text and/or icons have insufficient contrast against the background colour. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.3 (Contrast (Minimum)) and/or success criterion 1.4.11 (Non-text Contrast). We are currently investigating this issue further. 

Some website elements do not have enough contrast to indicate selection in keyboard navigation. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1 (Keyboard). We are currently investigating this issue further. 

Some videos may include background music. This is always low when people are speaking, but this may fail to meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.7 (Low or No Background Audio). All future videos will take this into consideration.  

Some links may not provide sufficient context or labels to define purpose. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4 (Link Purpose (In Context)). 

Some content on our webpages may require a reading level above lower secondary level. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.1.5 (Reading Level). As this relates to academic content for level 4 – 8 study, it is not possible to provide the content in an alternative format.  

The University Library website is powered by a large number of systems, each using their own navigation. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.2.3 (Consistent Navigation). We are working to standardise this as much as possible where systems are in our control. We are unable to edit the navigation of external systems.  

Most pages lack HTML5 landmark elements which may improve accessibility. This may fail WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.6 (Identify Purpose).  

Some forms are lacking autocomplete tokens. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.5 (Identify Input Purpose). We are currently investigating this further. 

Some forms could provide better contextual information to identify user errors. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.3.1 (Error Identification). We are currently investigating this further. 

 

Disproportionate burden 
Old LibGuides 

Some LibGuides are non-compliant, especially their text headings and alt text. These pages are in the process of being retired and will be replaced. As these resources are set to be replaced, it would be a disproportionate burden to fix content that  

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations 
PDFs and other documents 

Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing information. The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services. Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards. 

What we’re doing to improve accessibility 

The above sections detail our work in progress to improve accessibility. We're also investing in SiteImprove to provide us regular updates about how we are doing. 

We started a process of review on our SkillsGuide accessibility starting January 2022. This will be completed by September 2022 and will address issues with any missing ALT text, missing iframe textual alternatives and navigation. 

Preparation of this accessibility statement 

This statement was prepared on 21st September 2020. It was last reviewed on 4th May 2022. 

This website was last automatically tested by SiteImprove on December 12th 2021. Our compliance with WCAG 2.1 AA was 94.6% and our compliance with WCAG 2.1 A was 73.2%.

This website was last tested manually tested on 21st September 2020. The test was carried out by our staff, using a number of industry-standard tools and manual checks.  

To ensure a fair sample of pages, we tested the following: 

  • 5 x LibGuide pages 

  • 2 x SkillsGuide homepages 

  • 5 x SkillsGuide content pages 

  • 5 x most used LibWizard forms 

  • 1 x LibCal calendars 

  • 1 x LibCal event and booking form 

  • 1 x LibCal seats list, overview and booking form  

  • 1 x LibCal space list, overview and booking form 

  • 1 x LibAnswers home page 

  • 1 x LibAnswers chat 

  • 1 x Library Live Chat widget (LibAnswers) 

Any items that were only tested once are programmatically generated and so testing one page is suffice to test accessible output.