Accessibility statement for Open Books website

Website accessibility statement in line with Public Sector Body (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018

Open Books - https://openbooks.is.ed.ac.uk/ is a website hosted by the University of Edinburgh Library on behalf of the University of Edinburgh. This collection is compiled from readers’ orders for scans, principally in black and white and some in colour. The images that have been created by the University's Digital Imaging Unit are freely accessible to all.

We want as many people as possible to be able to use our website. For example, this means you should be able to:

• change colours, contrast levels and fonts.
• experience no time limits to content
• navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
• magnify up to 200%

We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.

Customising the website

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

AbilityNet - My computer my way

With a few simple steps you can customise the appearance of our website to make it easier to read and navigate.

Additional information on how to customise our website appearance

If you are a member of the University staff or a student you can use the free Sensus Access accessible document conversion service.

SenusAccess Information

How accessible this website is

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

• For all non- text content such as images and icons there may not be text descriptions
• The system may not be fully compatible with screen readers e.g. a screen reader may not be able to determine what the content is and how it relates to other content
• The colours on are pages may not meet current colour contrast recommendations
• All our web pages may not have a title that clearly describes their purpose
• User interface elements may not be compatible with assistive technology
• Not all our PDF’s are fully accessible

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, audio recording or braille please contact the website team by contacting us:

By using the IS Helpline online contact form

IS Helpline contact form

Or phoning

+44 (0)131 651 5151

Or email

Information.systems@ed.ac.uk

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 5 working days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements please let us know by contacting:

By using the IS Helpline online contact form

IS Helpline contact form

Or phoning

+44 (0)131 651 5151

Or email

Information.systems@ed.ac.uk

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 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 please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS) directly.

Contact details for the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS)

The government has produced information on how to report accessibility issues:

Reporting an accessibility problem on a public sector website

Contacting us by phone using British Sign Language

British Sign Language service

British Sign Language Scotland runs a service for British Sign Language users and all of Scotland’s public bodies using video relay. This enables sign language users to contact public bodies and vice versa. The service operates from 8am to 12 midnight, 7 days a week. 

British Sign Language Scotland service details

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

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

Compliance Status

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below

The full guidelines are available at

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1

Non accessible content

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

The following items to not comply with the WCAG 2.1 AA success criteria

• Not all non-text items have text alternatives
  • 1.1.1 - Non-text Content
• Not all our PDF’s and Word documents meet accessibility standards.
  • 1.1.1 - Non-text Content
  • 2.4.5 - Multiple Ways
  • 1.3.2 - Meaningful Sequence
  • 1.4.5 - Images of Text
• Information, structure, and relationships conveyed through presentation can be programmatically determined or are available in text.
  • 1.3.1 Info and Relationships
• There may not be sufficient colour contrast between font and background colours especially where the text size is very small.
  • 1.4.3 -Contrast (Minimum)
• Web pages do not all have titles that describe topic or purpose.
  • 2.4.2 Page Titled
• Some input elements do not have a name available to an accessibility API.
  • 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value

Unless specified otherwise, wherever possible a complete solution or significant improvement will be in place by March 2021 where the issues are within our control.

Disproportionate burden

We are not currently claiming that any accessibility problems would be a disproportionate burden to fix. 

Content that is not within the Scope of the Accessibility Regulations

At this time we are not claiming that any content on the website is out of scope.

What we're doing to improve accessibility

We will continue to work with our in house developers to address these issues and deliver a solution or suitable workaround and correct issues directly where they are under our control.

We will continue to monitor accessibility and will carry out further accessibility testing if significant changes are made to the user interface or if a service user raises an issue. To plan to resolve the issues that are within our control by December 2021. We plan to manual review the accessibility of the site and make improvements and update this statement before December 2021. Whilst we are resolving issues or where we are unable to resolve an issue we will ensure reasonable adjustments are in place to ensure no user is placed at a disadvantage.

Information Services and accessibility

Information Services (IS) has further information on accessibility including assistive technology, creating accessible documents, and services IS provides for disabled users.

Assistive technology, creating accessible documents, and services IS provides for disabled users

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 7^th August 2020. It was last reviewed on 11^th September 2020.

This website was last tested on 7^th August 2020 The test was carried out by The University Library and University Collections Digital Library team using the automated LittleForest tool. The website is scheduled for manual testing by December 2021.

We did not use sample pages for testing - all pages were run through LittleForest.

Little Forrest claims it tests the following WCAG criteria either partially or wholly