It's Academic

In 2024 the Department of Justice added new rules to the Americans with Disabilities Act. These new rules change the requirements for accessibility from a just-in-time standard for digital materials to a requirement that all digital documents intended for public use be accessible the moment they are made available. This is a huge shift for libraries and higher education as a whole. These changes must be in place by April 24th, 2026. In practice the summer semester will be the first complete semester after this change. Failure to comply can lead to lawsuits.

I’ve been placed in charge of implementing these changes at my library and so I thought I would share some advice.

• These rules apply to all common materials used by employees, the public, and students but make a priority to emphasize items used most often by students.
• There are exceptions to this rule, which can be seen in this article.
• Familiarize yourself with making PDF, Word, PPT, HTML, and Excel files accessible since these are the most common file types. All of these have features to make files accessible.
• Assess whether you can replace PDF files with other file types. PDF files are the most difficult to make accessible by far. For text documents, HTML or Word are much better.
• Emphasize simplicity in documents. The more complex they are the more difficult it is to make them accessible.
• Contact vendors whose software your library uses and ensure their materials are accessible.
• Require staff to attend workshops on accessibility so they can contribute to these efforts.
• Create a plan to periodically check documents for accessibility going forward. This is not a one time change but something that must be standard practice.
• Experiment with AI tools to make documents accessible. My results have been mixed so far but I believe AI has great potential to help make documents accessibile.

I hope this list has been helpful. If you have any questions about accessibility, I’d be happy to offer more advice. Contact me at akirby@pennhighlands.edu

Weather in the northeast corner of the country where I live has turned cold, which means it’s time for a yearly reflection on the months that have passed. While I think it’s important to regularly review certain aspects of one’s job – such as evaluation goals and timeline-based projects – an overview of achievements gained and ones that have stalled is important for growth moving forward.

I’d like to focus this post on how I’ve expanded my network of connections to those in the academic library setting and, more specifically, Access Services. As I’ve come to learn over time, this field is very broad in the world of libraries. Professionals in it wear many hats, a challenge many of us (myself included) have had to lovingly embrace as a side effect of the field we find ourselves in. This isn’t to say it’s a negative thing – in fact, it’s very positive. This field requires us to know a little bit about everything that goes on within the wall of our libraries, from building entrance and exit points, book processing, student worker management, and access to resources.

We’re the front line for our libraries. This means we see the most of what goes on that others do not. Ninety-five percent of the time we’ve got a handle on it, but other times we are left wondering, “Does anyone else experience this, too?”

Enter networking!

I’ve been fortunate enough to attend the Access Services in Libraries annual conference held in Atlanta, Georgia for the last four years. It’s been extremely valuable and rewarding to get the opportunity to talk with others about their experiences, share struggles and victories, and learn new ways to engage with my student employees. There are travel grant opportunities available each year for this conference, which I was fortunate enough to receive in the first year I attended.

Another resource for networking has come from attending virtual access service interest group meetings and in-person, one-day workshops for consortiums my library is affiliated with. These opportunities have allowed me to expand on best practices for library policies and procedures that need tweaked, such as student working hiring and collection development.

Looking back on these networking opportunities over the past year, I feel lucky to have not only met many wonderful professionals in the field but also had the chance to share what my small academic library has been able to accomplish. This time in higher education is tough for many individuals and institutions. Sharing what works provides endless benefits for those who need a boost, and also allows those struggling to realize that they aren’t alone!

My college recently conducted a short survey with students about their preferences in online asynchronous classes.  As many librarians teach all or part of online courses, I thought this information might be of benefit.  The responses below are in order, with the most common responses at the top.

What content do you most like to see in online courses?

1. Weekly course schedules with due dates
2. Study guides
3. Links to library resources, Purdue Owl, and tutoring
4. Assignment video explanations
5. PowerPoints

What do you dislike the most in online courses?

1. Discussion boards
2. Vague and unclear instructions
3. Lack of communication
4. Short windows of time to complete assignments

What do you find difficult about online courses?

1. Managing my time
2. Staying motivated
3. Communicating with the professor
4. Keeping track of due dates
5. Understanding the course layout

What day of the week do you prefer to do coursework?

1. Monday (by far the most popular day)
2. Sunday