#43012
Speaker(s)
- Martina Svyantek, Digital Accessibility Specialist, University of Virginia
Session Details
- Length of Session: 1-hr
- Format: Interactive/Discussion
- Expertise Level: Intermediate
- Type of session: General Conference
Summary
Academic libraries occupy a unique and uncomfortable position in university accessibility ecosystems: expected to lead, equipped to support, but rarely empowered to require. This session examines how libraries navigate competing obligations to internal staff, external vendors, and the faculty and students they serve — with no clear mandate and plenty of accountability.
Abstract
Ask almost anyone on campus who should be responsible for digital accessibility, and eventually someone points to the library. Libraries license the databases. Libraries support the researchers. Libraries train the staff. Libraries know about standards. And yet, the academic library typically holds no policy authority over faculty course design, no leverage in enterprise-wide procurement decisions, and no staffing model built for accessibility remediation at scale. This session examines the academic library as an accessibility crossroads — a place where internal obligations, external vendor relationships, and university-wide service expectations converge without a clear mandate to resolve them.
Drawing on benchmarking research across peer institutions and direct experience at UVA Library, the session maps three fault lines that library professionals navigate daily. The first is internal: how do you build genuine accessibility competency among library staff whose roles span public services, technical services, digital collections, and administration — each with different tools, workflows, and stakes? The second is vendor-facing: what leverage does a library actually have when negotiating accessibility with database providers, discovery platforms, and digital resource vendors — and what does meaningful accountability look like in license language? The third is outward-facing: when faculty bring accessibility questions to the library's reference desk (literally or figuratively), what is ours to answer, and when does the library's role become absorbing problems that belong elsewhere?
The session will not offer a tidy resolution to these tensions. Instead, it offers a practical framework for naming and working within them — along with examples of where libraries have found traction and where the authority gap remains real.
Keypoints
- Libraries sit at the accessibility crossroads — expected to lead, but rarely empowered to require.
- Vendor accountability means more than collecting VPATs — it requires license language and ongoing audits.
- Role clarity about what belongs to the library protects staff capacity and improves campus outcomes.
Disability Areas
All Areas
Topic Areas
Accessibility and Accommodation in the Current Political/Legal Environment, Campus & System-wide initiatives, Procurement, Uncategorized, Web/Media/App Access
Speaker Bio(s)
Martina Svyantek
Martina Svyantek, PhD, is a critical disability studies scholar and digital accessibility advocate at the University of Virginia Library, where she serves as the Digital Accessibility Specialist. She holds the office of President of AHEAD in Virginia and serves as the chair of the Library's Digital Accessibility Working Group.
Holding dual CPACC and ADS certifications from IAAP, her interdisciplinary doctoral research at Virginia Tech examined post-ADA policy and procedure documents across U.S. higher education through a critical disability studies lens, investigating how institutional structures shape access. Her scholarship spans disability representation in engineering education, researcher positionality, and equity in digital environments. She has over a decade of experience advocating for and promoting accessibility in real-time, physical spaces as well as in digital and asynchronous situations.