Thematic access

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Standardization: templates and formats
Training
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Publications
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Library management systems
Events

Digital accessibility

Compliance with the General Accessibility Improvement Reference Framework (GAAR V4.1)

In accordance with article 47 of the Disability Act (No. 2005-102 of 11 February 2005), the application decree updated in 2019 and the Circular published in September 2020, the Agence bibliographique de l'enseignement supérieur is committed to an approach aimed at improving the accessibility of its digital interfaces, which concerns around thirty sites and applications:

  • public sites dedicated to bibliographic research
  • websites and blogs dedicated to professional information, documentation, assistance and training
  • sites and applications dedicated to the reuse, production and administration of data by ESR document networks.

Multiannual accessibility plan 2022 - 2024

TheAbes has defined its 2022-2024 multi-year plan. This specifies the main stages and steps envisaged to improve the digital accessibility of the interfaces available to users.

Consult the multiannual accessibility plan 2022 - 2024 (pdf - 1 Mo)

Introduction

Article 47 of Law 2005-102 of 11 February 2005 for equal rights and opportunities, participation and citizenship of persons makes it compulsory for any online public communication service to be accessible to all.

Digital Accessibility Policy

Digital accessibility is at the heart of the concerns related to the development or the provision of websites or applications for students, teachers and researchers as well as for library professionals.

This desire is illustrated by the development of a multi-year digital accessibility plan associated with annual action plans, with the aim of supporting compliance with the General Accessibility Improvement Reference Framework (GAAR) and the gradual improvement of the websites and applications concerned.

The development, monitoring and updating of this multi-year plan are the responsibility of the Accessibility Referee and the Ux design team atAbes (lux@abes.fr). Their missions are to promote digital accessibility by disseminating standards and good practices, to support internal teams through training, to control and ensure RGAA compliance by carrying out regular audits, to ensure that users' requests are dealt with and, in general, to ensure the quality of the service provided to users with disabilities.

Human and financial resources allocated to digital accessibility

A dedicated Digital Accessibility Working Group has been established in 2021. An assessment of human and financial needs is underway, which will lead to the establishment of a budget item dedicated to digital accessibility.

Organisation of the consideration of digital accessibility

Taking digital accessibility into account implies adapting the internal organisation of production and management of the websites and applications concerned, supporting staff through awareness-raising and training, taking digital accessibility into account in procurement procedures, development policies and information systems and taking into account internal and external requests for adaptation.

The following outlines the key points thatAbes will use to improve the digital accessibility of all its websites and applications.

Training and awareness-raising activities

Throughout the period of application of this plan, training and awareness-raising activities will be organised. They will enable staff working on the sites and applications to develop, edit and put accessible content online.

Exploratory work will be carried out to identify the needs for awareness-raising and training.

Use of external expertise

Whenever necessary, external parties will be called upon to assistAbes in the implementation of its digital accessibility policy. This may involve, for example, awareness-raising and training activities, support activities and, more particularly, audits of the websites and applications concerned.

Recruitment

Particular attention will be paid to the digital accessibility skills of staff working on digital services when creating job descriptions and in recruitment procedures. The RGAA skill will be integrated into the recruitment procedures for IT developers.

Consideration of digital accessibility in projects

The objectives of accessibility and compliance with the RGAA will be included and recalled at the beginning of the projects for which they will constitute a basic requirement. In the same way, these objectives and requirements will be recalled in any agreements established with our operators, delegates or partners.

User tests

If user tests are organised during the design, validation or development phase of a website or application, the panel of users will include people with disabilities as far as possible. The purpose of these tests is to identify the main bottlenecks and prioritise the improvements to be made.

Taking into account digital accessibility in market procedures

Digital accessibility and compliance with the RGAA must constitute a binding clause and participate in the evaluation of the quality of a service provider's offer when ordering work, particularly through calls for tender. The procedures for drawing up contracts and the rules for evaluating applications will be adapted to take account of the requirements for compliance with the RGAA. Exploratory work will be carried out to analyse the main current contracts linked to digital technology and to define the conditions under which they should be modified in this direction.

Processing of user feedback

In accordance with the provisions of the RGAA and the legitimate expectations of users, a means of contact will be put in place, as the compliance work progresses, on each site or application enabling users with disabilities to report their difficulties. In order to respond to requests, the AbesSTP help desk is available to users at this address: https: //stp.abes.fr/node/3?origine=abescom "Digital accessibility" domain

Digital Accessibility User Relations

The software and hardware equipment of staff, whether in terms of software specific to the implementation of the actions covered by the scheme and the action plan or in terms of office automation equipment for staff who require it, will be the subject of specific evaluations. Insofar as their cost is deemed "reasonable" and they also meet the other requirements ofAbes, the adaptations or developments will be made available to staff to acquire the concrete means of implementing the "digital accessibility" action plan ofAbes.

Technical and functional scope

Census

Abes manages and administers about thirty websites and applications for the public, library professionals andAbes staff (see list on page 6).

Assessment and qualification

Each site or application has been qualified according to criteria such as the number of visitors, the service provided, the criticality, the life cycle (date of the next redesign). Rapid accessibility evaluations will be carried out on all the sites and applications concerned. These evaluations will focus on a limited number of criteria chosen for their relevance in assessing the complexity and feasibility of compliance with the RGAA standards.

Annual Plans

This multi-annual plan is accompanied by annual action plans that detail the operations implemented to meet all the digital accessibility needs ofAbes.

List of sites

R

Accessible version of the multi-annual scheme

Plan annuel d’accessibilité

Le plan annuel d’accessibilité détaille les opérations programmées pour l’année. Des mises à jour seront apportées au fur et à mesure des réalisations effectuées.

Consulter le plan annuel d’accessibilité 2022 (pdf – 0,6 Mo)

Consulter le plan annuel d’accessibilité 2023 (pdf – 0,6 Mo)

 

Accessibility of the abes.fr website: partially compliant

Declaration of accessibility to the General Accessibility Improvement Reference (GAAR)

This declaration of accessibility applies to the website Abes (abes.fr) and was made in January 2022.

 

Compliance status

TheAbes website(abes.fr) is partially compliant with the Référentiel Général d'Amélioration de l'Accessibilité - RGAA version 4, due to the non-conformities listed in the "Non-accessible content" section.

The site is largely usable, but has some accessibility issues that may impact on navigation for blind people and keyboard users.

 

Non-accessible content

  • some of the decoration images do not have an informed alternative
  • some information-bearing images are not described
  • several colour contrasts are insufficient
  • some videos on the site do not have transcripts, subtitles or audio description
  • some scripts need to be corrected for screen reader and keyboard navigation
  • some information is conveyed only by colour or shape
  • some link titles are redundant
  • form fields do not always have a relevant label.
  • some PDFs are not accessible.

Third-party content not subject to the accessibility obligation

  • The news feed of theAbes Twitter account on the homepage
  • Video player(Vimeo)

Derogation for disproportionate burden

Given the number of PDFs on the site, it is felt that making all content accessible would be a disproportionate burden.

However,Abes is committed to producing alternatives to non-accessible content on demand. From 2022, efforts will focus on improving the RGAA compliance of newly published content (videos and PDFs).

 

Characteristics of the abes.fr website

Technologies used

  • CMS WordPress, Ocean WP theme
  • Elementor page builder
  • HTML5
  • CSS
  • JavaScript

Accessibility tools available

Logo visual disability TheAbes website incorporates a range of tools to improve its accessibility.

Visual options available

  • greyscale
  • high contrast
  • negative contrast
  • clear background
  • underlined links
  • link to reset the display

Accessibility evaluation process

Tools used

Test environment

  • Firefox and Google Chrome browsers

Pages tested for accessibility

Assistance and appeal

Under Article 11 of the Law of February 2005 :

A disabled person has the right to compensation for the consequences of his or her disability, regardless of the origin and nature of the disability, age or lifestyle.

To enable users to be directed to an accessible alternative or to obtain the content in another form,Abes provides its helpdesk:  

If a person reports a problem with accessibility and does not receive a response fromAbes, he or she is entitled to send a complaint or request for referral to the Human Rights Defender: