[Eril-l] Accessibility Archival Exceptions

Thu Mar 26 11:53:08 PDT 2026

Sadly, automatic OCR does not meet the accessibility standards because it relies on the clarity of the scanned image and on the quality of the OCR tool itself. Many documents we have examined with automated OCR on them spit out gibberish. The screen reader tries to read the gibberish, but it can’t improve upon the text. This is why we’re needing to apply for exceptions for many primary source resources.

Additionally, the Vogue archive is valuable primarily for its images, which do not have acceptable (or, frequently, any) alt text. Due to publisher limitations, users may only download up to two pages at a time, and the downloaded documents are less accessible than the web version. ProQuest’s Vogue archive is an accessibility nightmare. We ended up not renewing it because it was not a core resource for any of our academic programs.

Electronically yours,
Kris Ann Hudson (they/she)
Electronic Resources & Collections Assessment Librarian
Collections & Acquisitions Department
University Libraries
Miller Nichols Library, 308D
library.umkc.edu<http://library.umkc.edu/>
Phone: (816) 235-6470
[UMKC Logo]<http://www.umkc.edu/>

From: Eril-l <eril-l-bounces at lists.eril-l.org> On Behalf Of Electronic Resources in Libraries discussion list via Eril-l
Sent: Thursday, March 26, 2026 12:34 PM
To: Electronic Resources in Libraries discussion list <eril-l at lists.eril-l.org>
Subject: Re: [Eril-l] Accessibility Archival Exceptions

WARNING: This message has originated from an External Source. This may be a phishing expedition that can result in unauthorized access to our IT System. Please use proper judgment and caution when opening attachments, clicking links, or responding to this email.
We don't have those, but in the Vogue archive after you press tab several times you get an option to create a text only version of the article. Do those databases maybe have that available as well?

Scanned image content https://clarivate.com/accessibility/proquest-platform/

If your research involves referencing historical records or magazines in their original presentation format, you may encounter documents created from scanned images, where the text is not selectable or accessible by assistive technologies. Where possible, ProQuest offers an on-demand service that will use OCR (optical character recognition) technology to create a readable version of the text within the scanned image. For more guidance about how to access these records, including instructions about how to generate this plain text version, please read our support article: Generating a text version of scanned image documents<https://support.proquest.com/articledetail?id=kA13r0000003VfICAU>.

For users with reduced motor ability, a keyboard-only option for manipulating images is available. This tool allows you to zoom, rotate, and pan the image without using a mouse. To learn more about how to use this tool, read our support article: Using the Keyboard Accessible Image Viewer on the ProQuest Platform<https://support.proquest.com/articledetail?id=kA13r0000003VfNCAU>.

If using assistive technology, the message ends here. Email signature below.

Susan R. Barber
Electronic Resources Coordinator
Paul and Rosemary Trible Library
Christopher Newport University
sbarber at cnu.edu<mailto:sbarber at cnu.edu>
757-594-7046

On Thu, Mar 26, 2026 at 11:18 AM Electronic Resources in Libraries discussion list via Eril-l <eril-l at lists.eril-l.org<mailto:eril-l at lists.eril-l.org>> wrote:
Have any of you successfully made the case to your campus for an archival exception for any of your resources? We have some collections (like ProQuest’s EEBO and British Periodicals Collections) that we believe meet the definition of archival content<https://www.ada.gov/law-and-regs/regulations/title-ii-2010-regulations/#section-35104-definitions>, but we’re still building our case. I would LOVE to hear what you’re doing, what your exception process looked like, what argument you made for the archival exception, and for which resources. Anything you can share is greatly appreciated!

Electronically yours,
Kris Ann Hudson (they/she)
Electronic Resources & Collections Assessment Librarian
Collections & Acquisitions Department
University Libraries
Miller Nichols Library, 308D
library.umkc.edu<http://library.umkc.edu/>
Phone: (816) 235-6470
University of Missouri – Kansas City

_______________________________________________
Eril-l mailing list
Eril-l at lists.eril-l.org<mailto:Eril-l at lists.eril-l.org>
http://lists.eril-l.org/listinfo.cgi/eril-l-eril-l.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.eril-l.org/pipermail/eril-l-eril-l.org/attachments/20260326/44e0ad24/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 6694 bytes
Desc: image001.png
URL: <http://lists.eril-l.org/pipermail/eril-l-eril-l.org/attachments/20260326/44e0ad24/attachment.png>