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Accessibility Statement

Contents

»   Using this website
»   How accessible this website is
»   Feedback and contact information
»   Reporting accessibility problems with this website
»   Enforcement procedure
»   Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person
»   Technical information about this website's accessibility
»   Issues with technology
»   Issues with text
»   Issues with PDFs and other documents
»   Issues with images, video and audio
»   Issues with interactive tools and transactions
»   How we tested this website
»   What we're doing to improve accessibility
 
»   Further Help / JustAsk a Librarian

 

Using this Website

This website is run by University of Birmingham. 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 aren't fully accessible:

  • the text won't reflow in a single column when you change the size of the browser window
  • you can't modify the line height or spacing of text
  • most older PDF documents aren't fully accessible to screen reader software
  • live video streams don't have captions
  • some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
  • you can't skip to the main content when using a screen reader
  • the process for booking rooms is controlled by third party software we are unable to edit

 

Feedback and contact information

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

We'll consider your request and get back to you as soon as possible.

If you can't view the map on our 'contact us' page, call or email us for directions.


 

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We're always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems that aren't listed on this page or think we're not meeting the requirements of the accessibility regulations, contact: library@mail.libanswers.bham.ac.uk.


 

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing 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

You are welcome to visit us in person when our libraries are open or check our Help and Contacts page for the latest information about how to contact us.


 

Technical information about this website's accessibility

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

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

Issues with technology

Issues have been noted regarding the contrast between foreground and background colours on some pages of this site. A wider investigation into the colour pallette of the university web services is in progress. The results of this will inform the future design of this site.

Forms used in FindIt@Bham can be improved in respect of use by keyboard and/or screen reading software. Where these are due to the software upon which the room booking service runs, this is subject to ongoing improvement by our suppliers. A major upgrade to this software is being planned for 2020.


 

Issues with text

Some link text doesn' make sense when read on its own (for example, 'click here').

We plan to fix the existing links by September 2020. When we publish new content we'll make sure link text meets accessibility standards.


 

Issues with PDFs and other documents

Many of our older PDFs and Word documents don't meet accessibility standards - for example, they may not be marked up so they're accessible to a screen reader.

Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services, and forms published as Word documents. By September 2020, we plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages.

The accessibility regulations don't require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they're not essential to providing our services. For example, we don't plan to fix historical documents saved without our repositories.

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.


 

Issues with images, video and audio

We plan to add alt text to images on the home page by September 2020.


 

Issues with interactive tools and transactions

The colour contrast on error messages is too low.

Some of our interactive forms are difficult to navigate using a keyboard. For example, because some form controls are missing a 'label' tag.

We plan to work with our supplier to fix this issue as part of a wider upgrade planned for summer 2020.


 

How we tested this website

This website was last tested on 13/1/2021. The test was carried out by running Silktide accessibility audits.

We used this approach to deciding on a sample of pages to test based on the functionality of this web site.

We tested:

  • our main website platform, available at http://librooms.bham.ac.uk/
  • functional pages for booking study rooms
  • pages showing help and room descriptions.
This test gave the following results:
Accessibility level   Result
WCAG 2.1 A 99.7%
WCAG 2.1 AA 56.8%
WCAG 2.1 AAA 56.8%

 

What we're doing to improve accessibility

Improvements to the accessibility of this service are part of an upgrade to the access control and room bookings services planned for mid-2020.

This statement was prepared on 30/1/2020. It was last updated on 6/2/2020.


 

Further Help / JustAsk a Librarian

Further help can be obtained 24/7 via the 'JustAsk a Librarian' online chat at https://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/as/libraryservices/library/contact/justask.aspx.

 

Content: e.j.craft@bham.ac.uk
February 2020.