A Critical Assessment of the Accessible Content E-Portal (ACE)

Scheduled at 1:45 pm in Virtual D on Wednesday, November 13.

Speaker(s)

• Ravit H David, Distinctive Collections Librarian, University of Toronto
• Sabina Pagotto, Assessment & Member Engagement Librarian, University of Toronto

Session Details

• Length of Session: 1-hr
• Format: Lecture
• Expertise Level: All Levels
• Type of session: General Conference

Summary

The Ontario Universities Libraries (OCUL)launched The Accessible Content ePortal (ACE) in 2012 to help post-secondary libraries meet AODA obligations by digitizing and sharing print books. In early 2023, the SPOD committee formed the ACE Assessment working group to evaluate ACE. Our presentation will cover the assessment process: what we assessed, the methods used, our findings, and recommendations; what recommendations were adopted by OCUL directors and will be implemented in 2024-25.

Abstract

Our presentation will cover an assessment process of the Accessible Content ePortal (ACE) from early 2023 to June 2024. It will introduce the service and its mandate, including data on its current use by members of The Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL)—a consortium of Ontario’s 21 university libraries. We will also discuss ACE's recent partnership with the US repository EMMA (Educational Materials Made Accessible) in piloting initiatives under the Marrakesh Treaty, aimed at increasing the accessibility of published works for persons who are blind, visually impaired, or otherwise print-disabled.

We will then discuss the assessment methods the working group decided on and their limitations. Specifically, we will review our three methods—community survey, quality assurance of community submissions, and comparative analysis of similar platforms. This discussion will include details on collecting data, analyzing it, and sharing the findings.

We will also present the overall findings and recommendations the working group shared with the directors of OCUL (upcoming June 2024) and how these were perceived: which recommendations and the implementation plans for 2024-25, including their implications for the ACE community, its library coordinators, the Accessibility offices at our member institutions, and the ACE users.

Special attention will be given to reviewing the intersections with the recommendations of a recent consortial task force on AI. We will explore how incorporating AI-related technology into the consortia's infrastructure and services has helped prioritize the recommendations of the assessment working group for ACE.

Finally, our presentation will discuss the tension between local institutional commitment to accessibility and consortial services like ACE. We will explore how an assessment project like the one we embarked on can help align the two and improve accessibility services to users in the post-secondary educational sector.

Keypoints

1. A strength of ACE’s collections is that it is driven by user-needs, providing alternative format upon request.
2. Various AI techniques can enhance accessibility, like changes in format and multilingual capabilities.
3. ACE presumes its users have basic knowledge of alternate formats and assistive technologies.

Disability Areas

All Areas

Topic Areas

Alternate Format, Artificial Intelligence, Assistive Technology, Uncategorized

Speaker Bio(s)

Ravit H David

Ravit H David leads the accessibility service (ACE)for the Ontario University Consortium (OCUL), available here: https://ace.scholarsportal.info/. Ravit H. David (she/her) serves as the Distinctive Collections Librarian at Scholars Portal, University of Toronto Libraries. In her current position, Ravit focuses on developing government information content, accessible service (ACE), OA and Archive-It collections. Ravit is keen on all aspects of digital access, from policy and copyright to metadata best practices for discoverability. In her previous role, Ravit served as the Coordinator of the E-book service at Scholars Portal. She worked with vendors and publishers to provide access and high-quality metadata to E-Books with perpetual access rights. Before joining the University of Toronto, Ravit completed a Ph.D. in English Modernism. Whenever she finds the time, she likes collaborating on Digital Humanities grant projects.

Sabina Pagotto

Sabina Pagotto completed her MLIS from Western University in 2013 and started her library consortium career at the Canadian Research Knowledge Network. Sabina has spent the last nine years at Scholars Portal, Ontario Council of University Libraries, first as Client Services Librarian and now Assessment & Member Engagement Librarian.