PRIMO VE ACCESSIBILITY STATEMENT

Accessibility statement for Primo VE 

This accessibility statement applies to the GSA instance of Primo VE, the Glasgow School of Art Library Services’ discovery layer. Primo VE is a third party platform created by Ex Libris.

This website is run by GSA Library Services. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to: 

  • change colours, contrast levels and fonts 
  • zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen 
  • navigate most of the website using just a keyboard 
  • navigate most of the website using speech recognition software 
  • listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver). Users of NVDA are recommended to use Chrome. 
  • We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand. 

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

Ex Libris state that Primo VE is continually designed and developed to meet Level AA of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1). Ex Libris have produced a Voluntary Product Accessibility Template which details conformance with WCAG 2.1. 

How accessible this website is 

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

  • Some parts of the website can’t be accessed using a keyboard 
  • Sometimes keyboard focus is not visible 
  • In the My Library Card > Loans section, checkboxes have the state “half checked” when they are actually “checked.” 
  • Email functionality: When no email address in entered in the “To” field, an error appears visually but is not announced. 
  • Some page titles are not sufficiently descriptive and read only “Discovery.” These pages include Journal Search, User Overview, User Loans, User Personal Details, My Favorites > Search history, and Citation Trail. 
  • Some areas may not display text correct when zoom is beyond 200%.  

Feedback and contact information 

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille: 

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 5 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, contact LTHelp@gsa.ac.uk 

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, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS). 

Visiting us in person 

Our ground-floor Service Desk is fitted with a hearing loop. 

Technical information about this website’s accessibility 

Glasgow School of Art Library Services 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 version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below. 

Non-accessible content 

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations 

  • Element states in My Library Card>Loans are not conveyed to screen reader users. Some checkboxes are recorded as “half checked”. This fails against criteria 4.1 Compatible.  Ex Libris are aware of this issue and are working to resolve it.  
  • Some content is lost on reflow when page width is adjusted to 320px on the page My favouties>Search history. This fails against criteria 1.4.10 Reflow. Ex Libris are aware of this issue and are working to resolve it. 
  • Some focus indicators do not have required contrast ratio with background (My Library Card>Overview). These focus indicators fail against criteria 1.4.11 Non-Text Contrast. Ex Libris are aware of this issue and are working to resolve it. 
  • Some ID attribute values are not unique, which is a failure against criteria 4.1 Compatible. Ex Libris are aware of this issue and are working to resolve it. 
  • Some elements (pagination links) are inaccessible by keyboard alone, which fails against criteria 2.1 Keyboard Accessible. Ex Libris are aware of this issue and are working to resolve it. 
  • “Citation paths” content cannot be seen when text spacing is adjusted, which fails against criteria 1.4 Distinguishable. Ex Libris are aware of this issue and are working to resolve it. 
  • Some programmatic labels do not convey the purpose of the control (“locations” dropdown, “volume” dropdown, “year” dropdown, “description” dropdown). This fails against criteria 2.4 Navigable. Ex Libris are aware of this issue and are working to resolve it. 
  • Invalid email addresses prompt a status message reading “email address is invalid”, however, this email address is not automatically announced by the screen reader. This fails against criteria 4.2 Compatible. Ex Libris are aware of this issue and are working to resolve it. 
  • Some page titles are generic and do not identify the contents of the page, which is a failure against criteria 2.4 Navigable. Ex Libris are aware of this issue and are working to resolve it. 
  • The “not renewable” button has a tooltip which appears on hover. This tooltip obscures the content but there is no way to dismiss the tooltip. This is a failure against criteria 1.4 Distinguishable and it appears on multiple pages. Ex Libris are aware of this issue and are working to resolve it. 
  • Some text lacks the appropriate contrast ratio with the background on focus, which is a failure against criteria 1.4 Distinguishable. Ex Libris are aware of this issue and are working to resolve it. 
  • Some of the markup describing widgets is inappropriate, which results in the screen reader incorrectly describing each tab widget as “tab 1 of 1”. This is a failure against criteria 4.1 Compatible. Ex Libris are aware of this issue and are working to resolve it. 
  • The focus indicator in Full Display is not visible, which is a failure against criteria 2.4 Navigable. Ex Libris are aware of this issue and are working to resolve it. 
  • The screen reader will read content outside of the modal dialogue, which is a failure against 1.3 Adaptable. Ex Libris are aware of this issue and are working to resolve it. 
  • Some graphics lack the correct contrast ratio, causing a failure against criteria 1.4 Distinguishable. Ex Libris are aware of this issue and are working to resolve it. 
  • Some decorative images have alt text and are not marked as presentation in the role tag. This is a failure against 1.1 Text Alternatives. Ex Libris are aware of this issue and are working to resolve it. 

For more information about the instances of each error, please see Ex Libris’ Accessibility Statement, which contains a link to a file with all outstanding accessibility issues. 

We have also embedded a social media widget hosted by TINT onto our Primo homepage. Within TINT, there is non accessible content: 

  • The TINT stream moves automatically and can’t be controlled, failing against criteria 2.2.1 Timing Adjustable. 
  • The TINT stream cannot be paused or stopped, failing against criteria 2.2.2 Pause, Stop, Hide.  
  • The TINT stream lacks a lang attribute and a page title, failing against criteria 3.1.1 Language of Page and 2.4.2 Page Titled. 

GSA Library Services has reported these errors to TINT and will review use of the TINT stream if these cannot be resolved. 

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations 

Some items within the catalogue are available as eBooks or PDFs on external websites. These texts are not hosted on Primo VE and are outwith the scope of this audit. 

Preparation of this accessibility statement 

This statement was prepared on 24 January 2022.  

This website was last tested on 19 October 2022. The test was carried out by Glasgow School of Art Library Services. GSA Library Services used the WCAG Evaluation Methodology to decide on a sample of pages to test. Please contact lthelp@gsa.ac.uk if you would like to know more about the sampling method or our roadmap for fixing accessibility issues.