Are the materials in your library accessible to people with disabilities? How do you know? According to the CDC, up to one in four adults in the United States has some type of disability, whether visible or invisible. Legally, libraries must provide equivalent access to our services and materials in order to comply with federal and state regulations. However, the reasons for providing equivalent access to our patrons go beyond needing to comply with the law; libraries must ensure all of our patrons are able to find, access, and use the information they need. This workshop is geared to those who routinely create any information sources that are meant to be distributed -- whether online or in-person. If you create Word documents, PDFs, or publish material on the web, then this workshop is for you.

Formatting materials for accessibility and Universal Design share common elements. This workshop will introduce participants to both concepts and incorporate interactive exercises with foundational theories. Workshop attendees will be provided with an overview of relevant legal regulations, given a selection of commonly-available tools and resources necessary to learn the basics of accessibility formatting, and have the opportunity to practice making Word documents, PDFs, and web content accessible.

During the interactive portion of the workshop, attendees will work to apply their learning by revising an item from their home institution in order to make it more accessible to their users. Presenters will provide guidance in the form of in-person feedback as well as step-by-step instructions of the basic elements of document, PDF, and web content accessibility. By the end of the workshop, attendees will have identified resources and partners in their existing networks who can assist in making library resources more accessible and will have made in-roads into being one of those resources in their networks themselves.