In response to the US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) notice of proposed rulemaking “Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability; Accessibility of Web Information and Services of State and Local Government Entities,” the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) submitted comments supporting the federal government in codifying the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) into law for the first time, and highlighting strategies ARL member libraries are using to accelerate the adoption of born-accessible publishing.
The DOJ proposal would amend Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which governs accessibility for state and local government, including public libraries and academic libraries that are part of institutions of higher education. The proposed rule would require state and local government entities to adhere to WCAG 2.1 Level AA, with exceptions for certain categories of web content. For instance, in the higher education context, class or course content posted to a learning management system (LMS) would not need to be accessible, unless and until a student with a disability who would be unable to access the course content posted on the LMS enrolls in a particular class or course.
The DOJ points out that this approach is consistent with obligations of public entities under Title II of the ADA. But this rulemaking governs digital accessibility, and the digital works acquired by libraries for use in course and class work are inherently more compatible with assistive technology. Today, it is far more efficient for a publisher to make accessibility improvements to the born-digital version than for an institution to convert an analog copy into an accessible digital copy, or to unlock a digital copy and convert it to a more accessible format. ARL’s comments recommend a born-accessible approach, in which vendors would design digital academic content with the needs of people with disabilities in mind.
The proposed rule reiterates that it is the public educational institutions that are responsible for meeting their legal obligations. But libraries of all sizes experience considerable challenges when negotiating for accessible digital scholarly works. Nevertheless, to address this barrier and meet the institutional legal obligations, libraries are working to move the scholarly publishing industry toward adoption of born-accessible standards through institutional and consortial negotiation strategies. For example, UC Berkeley Library has successfully proactively shifted the responsibility of producing accessible materials to vendors and publishers through its e-resources licensing process. University of Washington (UW) Libraries has elevated accessibility to a “deal-breaker” in its licensing requirements, and does not allow automatic renewal of subscriptions of inaccessible products. And, the Iowa State University Library’s Access and Acquisitions Department requests strong accessibility language in all new e-resources license agreements, in accordance with the university’s Digital Accessibility Policy. By creating loopholes such that WCAG does not need to be applied to password-protected course content, the DOJ’s proposed regulations have the potential to undermine library and university efforts to require vendors to provide born-accessible content and technology.
ARL is pleased that the federal government is adopting web-accessibility guidelines into law. We anticipate the US Department of Education will take the same approach of proposing exceptions to web-accessibility guidelines when it issues its notice of proposed rulemaking on Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. ARL and our members will engage with that rulemaking as well.
About the Association of Research Libraries
The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit organization of research libraries in Canada and the US whose vision is to create a trusted, equitable, and inclusive research and learning ecosystem and prepare library leaders to advance this work in strategic partnership with member libraries and other organizations worldwide. ARL’s mission is to empower and advocate for research libraries and archives to shape, influence, and implement institutional, national, and international policy. ARL develops the next generation of leaders and enables strategic cooperation among partner institutions to benefit scholarship and society. ARL is on the web at ARL.org.
