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Accessibility Statement for Solent University Libguides, LibCal, and LibWizard: ---

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Accessibility Statement

This accessibility statement applies to Solent University LibGuides (https://libguides.solent.ac.uk) and other associated sites provided to Solent University Library by Springshare and linked to from our LibGuides pages: LibCal (https://solent.libcal.com) and LibWizard (https://solent.libwizard.com).

This website is run by Solent University. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. That means you should be able to:

  • change colours and contrast levels using browser or device settings
  • zoom in up to 400% without the text spilling off the screen
  • navigate most of the website using a keyboard
  • listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of Narrator, NVDA, and VoiceOver)

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 are not fully accessible:

  • Some documents hosted on this website are not fully accessible, e.g., they lack structural elements.
  • Some videos hosted on this website are inaccessible due to:
    • not containing captions describing the audio content
    • not containing audio description for video content
    • having controls lacking sufficient colour contrast
    • having buttons that are too small
  • Where videos have quizzes embedded in them (such as the Research Skills Videos on most subject guide pages), working through these videos with the NVDA screen reader can cause the video to crash after completion of the quiz.
  • When submitting tutorials and forms, screen readers do not always automatically read feedback relating failures or successes.

Feedback and contact information

If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we're not meeting accessibility requirements, contact: library.loans@solent.ac.uk. Alternatively, you may go direct to James Clark, Library Discovery and Systems Manager, email: james.clark@solent.ac.uktelephone via the Solent Library main desk: 023 8201 3681.

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, audio recording etc.:

We'll consider your request and get back to you within 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, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Technical information about this website's accessibility

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

Compliance status

This website has been tested against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA standard.

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

Non-accessible content

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

  • Some non-decorative images that are not controls do not have alternative text. This applies to some quizzes and tutorials hosted in the solent.libwizard.com domain and embedded in or linked to from this website and to some documents that are hosted on this website. This will make it difficult or impossible for some users to follow some tutorials or to understand documents fully. This fails WCAG 1.1.1 Non-Text Content (A). Please contact the library (using the options under the Feedback and contact information section above) if you require an accessible alternative. We expect to fix this by 31 May 2025.

  • Structural elements such as titles, headings, lists are missing or mis-applied in quizzes and tutorials hosted in the solent.libwizard.com domain and embedded in or linked to from this website and to some documents that are hosted on this website. This will make it more difficult for users relying on accessible technology such as a screen reader to understand this content. This fails WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (A). Please contact the library (using the options under the Feedback and contact information section above) if you require an accessible alternative. We expect to fix this by 31 May 2025.

  • The back to the top button is invisible without CSS. This button occurs on every page, and with CSS it floats about half way up the when the page has been scrolled. This means that if they have CSS turned off, users will have to use the page's usual scrolling mechanism to return to the top of the page, and so its impact is minor. This fails WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (A). We have reported this problem to Springshare (the system vendor). We do not currently have a date by which this will be fixed.

  • The information about the staffing of the chat service that appears in the expandable chat widget is added by CSS and so is missing when CSS is turned off. This widget occurs on every page. This means that if they have CSS turned off, users will not have access to information about who is staffing the chat, and so its impact is minor. This fails WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (A). We expect to fix this by 30 November 2024.

  • When the interactive menu is visible on embedded Panopto videos, an an element with role "button" has been incorrectly placed as a grandchild of an element with role "tablist". This fails WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (A). However, manual testing with screen readers did not reveal any impact on the behaviour of assistive technology. Nevertheless, we have reported this problem to Panopto (the video system vendor). We do not currently have a date by which this will be fixed.

  • There is insufficient colour contrast in some cases where an image of text has been used. This occurs in some pages, quizzes and tutorials hosted in the solent.libwizard.com domain and embedded in or linked to from this website, and in some documents that are hosted on this website. This makes it impossible for some users to access that material. This fails WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum) (AA). Please contact the library (using the options under the Feedback and contact information section above) if you require an accessible alternative. We expect to fix this by 30 November 2024.

  • There are images of text that it would be technically possible to display as text in some pages, quizzes and tutorials hosted in the solent.libwizard.com domain and embedded in or linked to from this website, and in some documents that are hosted on this website. This makes it impossible for some users to access that material. This fails WCAG 1.4.5 Images of Text (AA). Please contact the library (using the options under the Feedback and contact information section above) if you require an accessible alternative. We expect to fix this by 30 November 2024.

  • Several pages include a box providing access to online chat, but this is not always presented in the same place. The inconsistent placing of this box makes it more difficult for users to locate, but note that there is also on each page a chat widget, which floats at the bottom of each page and provides similar functionality. This fails WCAG 3.2.6 Consistent Help (A). We expect to fix this by 30 November 2024

  • Several pages include a box providing contact details, but this is not always presented in the same place. The inconsistent placing of this box makes it more difficult for users to locate. This fails WCAG 3.2.6 Consistent Help (A). We expect to fix this by 30 November 2024

  • In the accessible room booking form, the "filters" label is not read for the set of three checkboxes to filter on presence and type of computer in the room. This makes it difficult for users to understand what they are filtering for. This fails WCAG 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions (A). We have reported this problem to Springshare (the system vendor). We do not currently have a date by which this will be fixed.

  • In the room booking confirmation form, required fields are not announced as "required", but instead the presence of an asterisk is read as "asterisk". This may not make it clear enough to users that the field is required. This fails WCAG 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions (A). We have reported this problem to Springshare (the system vendor). We do not currently have a date by which this will be fixed.

  • Also in the room booking confirmation form, a failure to complete required fields is not announced on submission of the form. This makes it difficult for the user to perceive that there is feedback for them to read, or that the submission  has not been successful. This fails WCAG 4.1.3 Status Messages (AA). We have reported this problem to Springshare (the system vendor). We do not currently have a date by which this will be fixed.

If you find an issue that we have yet to identify, please contact us using one of the routes described in the 'Feedback and contact information' section of this statement.

Disproportionate burden

At this time, we are not making any disproportionate burden claims.

Content that's not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

Video content

We have some existing pre-recorded video content that was published before the 23rd September 2020. This content is exempt from the regulations. All new video content we produce will have appropriate captions, audio descriptions and transcripts as necessary. In addition, we plan to review all video content and either remove it or re-record it to comply with WCAG 2.2 AA by 31 July 2025.

What we're doing to improve accessibility

The items identified in the Non-accessible content section of this website contain a date by which we expect the issue to be fixed if it is entirely within our control. We will continue to engage with our supplies to try to resolve the issues that involve them promptly.

In addition, we aim to make all our embedded video content meet WCAG 2.2 AA by the end of August 2025. Much of this content is exempt from the accessibility legislation due to the date it was published.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 20th September 2020. It was last reviewed and revised on 22nd August 2024.

This last test of this website was completed on 22nd August 2024.

The test was carried out internally. All public LibGuides pages were tested using automated testing tools. A further audit of the site was carried out to the WCAG 2.2 AA standard. In this audit, the home page, room booking pages, and the AZ list of databases were tested, as well as a random sample of approximately 10% guides from each of our two types, subject guides general purpose guides.