Creating Accessible LibGuides

Making your LibGuide's content accessible benefits everyone— people with and without disabilities. 
This guide provides suggestions for accessibility practices that will make your content more user-friendly.

GW and LAI are committed to making all web properties and web content accessible and usable for everyone, including people with disabilities, by employing principles of universal design and striving to conform to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0. These guidelines were created by the Web Accessibility Initiative in order to establish a worldwide shared standard for accessibility best practices that meet the needs of all kinds of people and organizations.

What is accessibility?

Accessibility means that our web properties can be used by and information can be delivered to users with auditory, cognitive, neurological, physical, speech, and visual disabilities.

• Perceivable: The information should be presented in a way all users can “see” or perceive it. No content should be hidden.
• Operable: The user interface should be operable with any device or software tool, such as a keyboard, touchscreen, or screen-reader.
• Understandable: In addition to being able to operate the user interface, users must be able to understand the information presented.
• Robust: Content should adhere to guidelines and best practices to ensure it can be interpreted by a variety of devices and assistive technologies.

Our goal is not only to make our content accessible to disabled users, but to ensure that this access is comparable to that of non-disabled users. Additionally, making our information accessible to these users typically makes it more accessible to all (just like curb cuts, or captions for an online course). Thus, prioritizing accessibility results in a net positive for all users who interact with our web properties.