Skip to Main Content
Allen Memorial Library

Allen Memorial Library Policies and Procedures Manual: E-Resources

a collection of all policies and procedures for the VCSU Allen Memorial Library

Electronic Resources Accessibility Documentation

In this section, you will find information on accessibility for the electronic resources purchased by the library.  This includes databases containing journal and magazine articles, e-book vendors, digital newspapers, and streaming audio and video resources.  Resources are organized by vendor, with the individual databases or electronic resources they provide listed for each.

Accessibility documentation for e-resources was last reviewed April 2023.

Databases by Vendor

Vendor Databases  Key Features

EBSCO
Academic Search Premier
Alt HealthWatch
EBSCOHost Audiobooks
Business Source Premier
Children’s Core Collection
Consumer Health Complete
EBSCO eBooks
Education Source
ERIC
Explora Educator’s Edition
Flipster online magazines
GreenFILE
HealthSource: Consumer
HealthSource: Nursing/ Academic
Library Lit&Info Sci FullText
LISTA
MasterFILE Premier
MegaFILE
NoveLIST
Points of View Reference Center
PrepStep/Learning Express
Professional Development Collection
Regional Business News
Science Reference Center
Sears List of Subject Headings
Senior High Core Collection
Teacher Reference Center
Wildlife & Ecology Studies Worldwide
  • Text-to-speech functionality on all HTML full-text articles
  • Transcripts are provided for audiobooks and video
  • Alt text is provided for meaningful images
  • Access Keys for keyboard-only navigation. 
  • A guide to keyboard navigation can be found at
    https://connect.ebsco.com/s/article/Accessibility-Navigation-Guide?language=en_US.
  • Headings and ARIA landmarks are used to facilitate screen reader navigation.
Ebsco completes annual accessibility audits conducted by a qualified third-party, completes usability studies with visually and physically impaired users, and maintains a series of accessibility guides for their products.  The Accessibility Policy can be found at https://www.ebsco.com/technology/accessibility. 

 
Vendor Databases  Key Features
Gale
Academic OneFile
Agriculture Collection
Artemis Literary Sources
Biography/Genealogy Master Index
Biography in Context
Book Review Index Online
Business Collection
Business Economics & Theory
Business Insights Global
Chilton Library
Communication & Mass Media
Computer Database
Contemporary Women’s Issues
Criminal Justice Collection
Culinary Arts Collection
Diversity Studies Collection
Environmental Studies & Policy
Expanded Academic ASAP
Fine Arts & Music Collection
Gale Virtual Reference Library
Gardening/Landscape & Horticulture
Gender Studies
General OneFile
General Science Collection
Global Issues in Context
GREENR
Health & Wellness Resource Center
Health Reference Center Academic
Hospitality, Tourism & Leisure
Information Science & Library Issues
Informe Academico
Infotrac Newsstand
LegalTrac
LitFinder
Literary Index
Literature Resource Center
Military & Intelligence Collection
Nursing & Allied Health Collection
Opposing Viewpoints in Context
Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine
Pop Culture Collection
Professional Collection
Psychology Collection
Religion & Philosophy Collection
Science in Context
Small Business Collection
US History Collection
US History in Context
Vocations/CTE Collection
War & Terrorism Collection
World History Collection
World History in Context
  • Text-to-speech functionality on HTML full-text articles
  • Options to display on-screen or download OCR for historical archive documents
  • Descriptive page titles
  • Skip-navigation links
  • Most Gale-hosted videos have closed-captioning; products provided by third-parties may or may not have closed-captioning or transcripts
  • Products can be navigated using keyboard commands
  • All pdf scans have an accessible HTML version
  • Products use ARIA labels, but not all elements are fully compliant
"Gale is committed to making its products accessible to users of all abilities and strives to make products universally accessible and user-friendly in conformance with Section 508 standards of the Rehabilitation Act and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)."
Gale also maintains a directory of VPAT reports for individual databases/database suites to document compliance.  Gale's Accessibility Policy can be found at https://support.gale.com/doc/accessibility_policy. 
Vendor
Databases
Key Features/Accessibility Documentation
OCLC
ArchiveGrid
Medline
WorldCat
WorldCat Dissertations & Theses
OCLC ArchiveGrid, WorldCat, WorldCat Dissertations & Theses, and Medline are all indexes of materials held by a variety of institutions, so the accessibility of the materials themselves cannot be ensured.  However, all OCLC products, including the indexes listed above, comply with both national (Section 508) and international (WCAG 2.0) guidelines, and periodically conducts product evaluations with impaired users to gather accessibility feedback.  VPATs for each OCLC product are available by request.
https://policies.oclc.org/en/accessibility.html
Tumblebooks
AudioBookCloud
TumbleBook Library
See VPAT document linked below
Cornell
Birds of North America/Birds of the World
 See the Accessibility Audit below and Cornell's Web Accessibility Assistance page is available at https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/web-accessibility-assistance/.
Britannica
Britannica Academic
To fulfill the objectives of our accessibility commitment, we have adopted as our primary guidelines the Section 508 website accessibility standards set forth by the U.S. General Services Administration and also the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 recommended by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). We continuously test Britannica sites for compliance with the accessibility standards set forth above and try our very best to remain compliant.
The accessibility of Britannica sites, however, depends on third-party technologies provided by the operating systems, hardware platforms, and assistive technologies, all of which can affect the level of accessibility of Britannica sites. We will continue to enhance the accessibility of our online products as greater functionality becomes available to ensure ongoing usefulness to all users, including those with different abilities. We also are committed to addressing issues that prevent the use of our software by people with different abilities.
Digital accessibility tools can be found at https://academic.eb.com/levels/collegiate/help
CLCD
Children's Literature Comprehensive Database
See VPAT Document below.
Credo
Credo Reference
Credo Women & Gender Studies
It is a priority for Credo that our system is accessible to all types of users, and we have designed Credo Online Reference Service to be used by people with disabilities. Credo Online Reference Service has hyperlinks specifically placed to enable users with screen readers to skip common navigation elements of our pages and jump to a page's main content. 
Accessibility Statements and applicable VPATs can be found at https://credoreference.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360037919454-Accessibility
ProQuest
EBook Central
ProQuest News & Newspapers
Psychology Database
Ancestry Library
“ProQuest strives to ensure our products meet international accessibility standards including the American with Disabilities Act, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, and the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. We also work hard to develop products which support and utilize the ever-evolving accessibility technologies available to our customers.”
Full accessibility statements, VPAT documents, and conformance reports for all ProQuest products can be found at https://support.proquest.com/articledetail? id=kA140000000GuogCAC
JSTOR
JSTOR
JSTOR Global Plants
The website is accessible to users with disabilities, including keyboard-only users and those with visual and cognitive impairments. The website is responsive, meaning users can easily adjust font size and color/contrast settings on most devices. We have made every effort to ensure that our image-based PDF files are accessible and can be read with screen readers like JAWS. These files are tagged at a high level using an automated process. While this method is not exact, it dramatically increases the accessibility of the files as compared to an untagged version. We regularly use automated checks and conduct tests with users against Section 508 and WCAG standards to evaluate and measure the accessibility of the site.
JSTOR accessibility policies can be found at https://about.jstor.org/accessibility/
OverDrive
OverDrive
OverDrive’s vision is to create “a world enlightened by reading” for everyone. This means providing a delightful, inclusive experience for all users.

We design our apps and websites to support screen readers, keyboard navigation, voice control, and other assistive technologies. We aim to ensure that every interactive element is expressively labeled, described, logically arranged, and has a large enough tap (or click) target area.

Our products are built on web technologies, and we leverage the accessibility features of HTML, CSS, and WAI-ARIA. These web standards continue to evolve, and our products will evolve as they do.

OverDrive’s accessibility statement and conformance documents can be found at https://company.cdn.overdrive.com/policies/accessibility.htm
Oxford University Press
Grove Music Online
Oxford University Press’ Accessibility statements can be found at https://global.oup.com/academic/accessibility/?cc=us&lang=en& and accessibility resources at https://global.oup.com/academic/rights /permissions/accessibility/?cc=us&lang=en&.
Taylor & Francis
Fisheries & Aquatics Journal Package
At Taylor & Francis, we are committed to ensuring all our products and websites are accessible to as wide an audience as possible. We strive to continually improve the accessibility of our eBook, journal, digital platform, and website offerings.
Full statements and VPAT documents can be found at https://taylorandfrancis.com/about/corporate-responsibility/accessibility-at-taylor-francis/
Wiley
Wiley Online Library
Wiley’s Accessibility policies can be found at https://www.wiley.com/en-us/accessibility
Infobase
Archival Films & Newsreels
Films on Demand
Accessibility statements, VPAT, and WCAG Conformance data can be found at https://infobase-fod.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360011563914-Accessibility-Statement-for-Films-On-Demand
Kanopy
Kanopy Streaming
Kanopy’s vision is to entertain, educate, and inspire by providing access to films that matter. We aim to provide a delightful, inclusive experience for all users.
We design our apps and website to support screen readers, keyboard navigation, voice control, and other assistive technologies. We work to expressively label, describe, logically arrange, and provide a large enough tap (or click) area for interactive elements.
Kanopy’s Accessibility Statement can be found at https://www.kanopy.com/accessibility.
Naxos
Naxos Music Library
Naxos Spoken Word Library
Naxos Music Library's Accessibility Statement can be found here: https://www.naxosmusiclibrary.com/accessibility. The VPAT document is also linked below. 
ACLS
Humanities EBook
Supports keyboard navigation
Closed-captioning and transcripts of video available
Image alt-text is supported
Video player supports sign language translation in a separate video player synchronized with the main player
Ebooks can be converted from scan to plain text for screen reader compatibility.

In addition to the ACLS HEB VPAT®, ACLS HEB has made available an Accessibility Conformance and Remediation Roadmap which describes timelines, development plans, and workarounds for issues identified in the VPAT.

More information is available at https://www.fulcrum.org/accessibility/#content