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Faculty Resources: Accessibility Resources

Accessible Library Materials

  Databases

  • EBSCO databases works with screen reader guides such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver (MacOS), and TalkBack (Android OS). 
  • EBSCO eBooks works with JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack. For low vision users, text can be zoom beyond 200%. 
  • ProQuest databases works with JAWS, NVDA, and VoiceOver. 
  • Gale has accessibility features to increase or adjust font size and text to speech in the article results page. 

Closed captioningStreaming media databases

  • Kanopy -Offers closed captioning subtitles
  • Films on Demand - Offers closed captioning and transcripts
  • Alexander Street - Offers closed captioning and transcripts on most videos

  Audiobooks

  • Some audiobooks can be acquired through Overdrive. 

Making Documents Accessible

MS Word

Whether you are drafting your documents using MS Word or Google Docs, you can apply Accessibility Checkers to ensure they are screen reader friendly and provide information for inserted images for visually impaired folks. Select Review from the menu navigation. Select the Check Accessibility button. 

This will open the Accessibility Checker of the right side panel. For example, if you inserted an image in your document, but did not provide Alt-Text, this will flag an alert. Providing a brief description of the image will allow screen readers to describe the picture to the audience. Learn more about alt-text best practices

Alt-text alert

 

Google Docs

Similar to MS Word, the accessibility checker is located under the Tools menu. 

Google Docs Accessibility under Tools menu

Once you enable the Accessibility checker, it will appear on the menu. 

MS PowerPoint

PowerPoint slides incorporates visuals with text commonly used in lectures. Some best practices for creating accessible PowerPoint presentations include;

  • Include alt-text for images and any visuals
  • Make sure slides can be read in the order you intend
  • Use high color contrast for text and background colors
  • Give every slide unique titles
  • Add meaningful hyperlink text

The accessibility checker is located under the Review menu. Select the Check Accessibility button. 

PowerPoint Accessibility Checker

Google Slides

Google Slides accessibility checker is under the Tools menu. Select the box to enable screen reader support and screen magnifier support. 

Google Slides tools menu for accessibility checker

Google slides accessibility menu