Accessibility in COM Library

Our most frequently used databases providers have details listed below, but most of our database platforms meet web accessibility standards.

Accessibility of the content varies. Gale, Infobase and Britannica Academic have a very high degree of accessibility for most of their content. ProQuest has very high degree of accessibility for most of their eBook content (Ebook central) and most of their articles.

EBSCO content accessibility is more limited, but is available for many articles and eBooks. You can find all COM Library databases here. 

Britannica Academic article are all in HTML format, with tools at teh top of the articles to change font size as needed.

Most EBSCO articles are available as PDFs, but limited articles are available in HTML, which all include text-to-speech functionality. 

New and recent PDFs in EBSCO Databases are ADA compliant. PDFs prior to September 2004 may not be readable by a screen readers.

Most eBooks can be read online as PDFs and some as ePubs,or downloaded as PDFs and some as ePubs.

Platform

• Tested with JAWS and NVDA. 
• ARIA landmarks to assist users with screen readers.
• Descriptive page titles and alternate text for meaningful images.

Full-text articles and eBooks found in Gale databases can be downloaded as HTML, PDFs or MP3s.

Most articles and eBooks also have the Text-to-speech Listen feature, which will read the document out loud. Options such text highlighting and speed of reading can be changed in settings. 

Platform

• Compliance under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, as well as most Level A(Priority 1) and AA (Priority 2)
• Compliance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0) developed by the Worldwide Web Consortium(W3C).

All articles are in HTML format with a Read Aloud feature, and may be downloaded as a PDF file. All videos have closed captioning; most also transcripts available online.  

Platform

Meets web accessibility standards.

Most articles are available as both HTML and PDF* and HTML versions of articles also have a read aloud option. *Some PDFs have been created from scanned text and are therefore accessible to screen readers, these are labeled 'Scanned image PDF.' 

Most eBooks can be read online as HTML or downloaded as HTML or PDFs.

Special Accessibility eBook Features
Students can change the font for the Ebook Central interface to OpenDyslexic, an open-source typeface designed to combat symptoms of dyslexia, directly from the Profile* page through Ebook Central. Accessibility Mode can be requested for your at ebooksupport@proquest.com. Accessibility Mode controls can be adjusted through your Profile*. Select "Profile" under "Settings," then adjust the accessibility settings.

*Requires a free ProQuest account. 

Platform

• Compliant with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.
• Compliant with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
• Certified for use with major screen readers (JAWS and VoiceOver)