Library Support for Hybrid/Online Teaching guide: Accessibility

Please keep accessibility standards and University policies in place when moving your instruction online. See the Center for Teaching Innovation's "Accessibility" page for more details and instructions.

The availability of accessible content varies across library resources, but in general using the HTML version of an electronic book chapter, journal article, or other content when available is recommended because it is more likely to be accessible. PDFs obtained from library resources will most likely not be accessible and need to go through a remediation process. See Cornell IT’s “Creating Accessible PDFs” and “SensusAccess” pages for more information.

Faculty can link to the HTML version of a journal article or e-book in their Canvas course site by doing the following:

• Locate electronic versions of books and journals using the library catalog or databases list.
• After conducting a search look for the “HTML full-text link” provided by the publisher or information provider in the search results. This link may be in different places depending on platform. Some publishers and information providers will not include an HTML version of a text.
• Do not copy and paste the browser link into your Canvas site, as this may not include the authentication users need to access from off-campus. For guidance on how to create a useable link, see the guidelines under “Individual articles in a licensed journal.”
• If you have questions or need additional assistance, please use Ask a Librarian.

The Student Disability Services’ Bookshare program has over 250,000 titles that are available in DAISY and Braille formats.

Ally is an external tool that integrates with Canvas to automatically provide instructors with an analysis and accessibility score for course materials. When Ally is turned on in a Canvas course, faculty will see an accessibility score indicator (next to the “published” checkmark) for most course materials (including unpublished materials). This indicator gives a score for each course component; when you click on the indicator, it will identify issues with the item and provide guidance on next steps to improve the score by making the item more accessible. The best way to learn more about how to use Ally is to access their help materials online. We recommend that faculty begin with Getting Started with Ally and Ally’s Quick Start for Instructors (note: Ally is a Blackboard product, but is integrated with Canvas).

The Center for Teaching Innovation can provide more information about Ally and is having training sessions. Information about additional accessibility tools and broader information about accessiblity, accomodation, and inclusion can be found on the Center for Teaching Innovation's website.