Web Accessibility baby steps: anyone can conduct audits even with limited resources

Abstract

In today's digital landscape of academic libraries, web accessibility has become a legal requirement under different legislation. Ensuring equal access to digital scholarship, and online library services of libraries for people, with or without disabilities, is crucial. However, conducting web accessibility audits even on our own websites can seem daunting or too tech savvy, especially for individuals with limited technical expertise and resources to afford expensive monitoring tools. This poster, titled "Web Accessibility baby steps: anyone can conduct audits even with limited resources," aims to show how to run basic but effective accessibility audits in a sustainable manner. The main goal is to demonstrate that, using an easy approach, anyone in the library can perform an initial but comprehensive web accessibility audit. It is focused on manual testing techniques, particularly keyboard-only testing which makes the process accessible to all. The process is structured into 3 critical components as follows: Tabbing Order: how to assess tabbing order to ensure logical navigation. Tab Focus: the importance of visible focus indicators and how to verify their effectiveness using a keyboard. Linking/button elements: We explain how to assess link accessibility and activate links using only a keyboard. For those who would like to dive deeper into the subject, they will be provided with links to valuable accessibility tools, guides, and tutorials.