Accessibility Statement for Archives Online Service Website
Website accessibility statement in line with Public Sector Body (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018
Archives Online Services (https://archives.collections.ed.ac.uk/) is a website hosted by the University of Edinburgh Library on behalf of the University of Edinburgh. It provides access to search a variety of University collections and digital materials. 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
- magnify the text
- navigate to most of the website using just a keyboard
- navigate to most of the website using speech recognition software
- use the system without timeout
- listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of Job Access with Speech (JAWS), NonVisual Desktop Access (NVDA) and VoiceOver)
We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.
Customising the website
AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability. This is an external site with suggestions to make your computer more accessible:
AbilityNet - My Computer My Way
With a few simple steps you can customise the appearance of our website using your browser settings to make it easier to read and navigate:
Additional information on how to customise our website appearance
If you are a member of University staff or a student, you can use the free SensusAccess accessible document conversion service:
How accessible this website is
We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:
- some parts may not be fully compatible with screen readers
- navigating by keyboard is not always the clearest to a user
- it is not possible to navigate by keyboard only to all content
- some colour contrasts do not meet recommended guidance
- some non-text content does not have text alternatives
- there is some use of italics and continuous capitals
Feedback and contact information
If you need information on this website in a different format, including accessible PDF, large print, audio recording or braille please contact the Information Services Helpline:
- Online contact form: IS Helpline contact form
- Email: is.helpline@ed.ac.uk
- telephone +44 (0)131 651 5151
- British Sign Language (BSL) users can contact us via contactSCOTLAND-BSL, the on-line BSL interpreting service.
We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 5 working days.
Reporting accessibility problems with this website
We are 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, please contact:
- Online contact form: IS Helpline contact form
- Email: is.helpline@ed.ac.uk
- telephone +44 (0)131 651 5151
- British Sign Language (BSL) users can contact us via contactSCOTLAND-BSL, the on-line BSL interpreting service.
We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 5 working days.
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 please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS) directly:
Contact details for the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS)
The government has produced information on how to report accessibility issues:
Reporting an accessibility problem on a public sector website
Contacting us by phone using British Sign Language
British Sign Language service
contactSCOTLAND-BSL runs a service for British Sign Language users and all of Scotland’s public bodies using video relay. This enables sign language users to contact public bodies and vice versa. The service operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
contactSCOTLAND-BSL service details
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
The University of Edinburgh is committed to making its websites and applications 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 (WCAG) 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.
The full guidelines are available at:
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA standard
Non accessible content
Noncompliance with the accessibility regulations
The following items to not comply with the WCAG 2.1 AA success criteria:
- Not all non-text content presented to users has alternative text
- There may not be sufficient colour contrast between font and background colours, especially where the text size is very small
- Information is conveyed as an image of text rather than as text itself, meaning it is likely to be incompatible with screen readers and other assistive technology
- Visual information to identify user interface components, such as keyboard focus, do not always have a sufficient contrast ratio
- Most tooltips disappear as soon as the cursor moves. Also tooltips are not always present for all icons and images
- It is not possible to use a keyboard to access all the content
- It is not always clear to tell where you have navigated to when you are using a keyboard
- There is no specific help function section, including accessibility information
- Not fully compatible with screen readers
Unless specified otherwise a complete solution or significant improvement will be in place by Apr 2022 for the issues within our control.
Disproportionate burden
We are not currently claiming that any accessibility problems would be a disproportionate burden to fix.
Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
At this time, we are not claiming any material is out of scope.
What we’re doing to improve accessibility
We will continue to work to address these issues and deliver a solution or suitable workaround. Where issues are under our control we will work to rectify to correct issues. We plan to resolve the issues that are within our control by Apr 2022.
We will carry out further accessibility testing if significant changes are made to the user interface or if a service user raises an issue.
While we are in the process of resolving these accessibility issues, or where we are unable to, we will ensure reasonable adjustments are in place to make sure no user is disadvantaged.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 21st September 2021. It was last reviewed on 21st September 2021
This website was tested by the University of Edinburgh’s Disability Information Officer on a PC using Internet Explorer (11.0.9600.19236) browser and also using the automated WebAIM WAVE tool. Internet Explorer was chosen as the browser due to it being the most commonly used browser by disabled people as shown in the government survey: Government Assistive Technology Browser Survey. We tested the home page and a selection of pages throughout the site to ensure all the main features of the website were tested.
We tested:
- Spellcheck functionality
- Scaling using different resolutions and reflow
- Options to customise the interface (magnification, font, background colour et. cetera)
- Keyboard navigation
- Data validation
- Warning of links opening in a new tab or window
- Information conveyed in colour or sound only
- Moving, flashing or scrolling text
- Operability if JavaScript is disabled
- Use with screen reading software (eg. JAWS)
- Assistive Software (TextHelp Read and Write, ZoomText)
- Tooltips and text alternatives for any non-text content
- Time limits