Third Party Resources Accessibility Working Group: Terms of Reference

Purpose

• To make every effort to ensure that all our users are getting the best possible experience from third party resources
• To solicit feedback from our users as to the accessibility of our third-party content
• To challenge publishers whose content does not conform to WCAG 2.2 level AA standards and to seek assurances that measures to gain conformance are in hand and scheduled appropriately.
• To set clear priorities and targets on the Working Group action plan for the year ahead
• To monitor progress against measures on this action plan
• To escalate as necessary, where positive change is impeded in the action plan
• To publicise the result of accessibility audits of third-party platforms and keep this updated
• To report to relevant fundholders/Content Budget Management Group indicating publishers exhibiting best and worst practice and providing evidence to feed into renewal discussions
• To mobilise and empower staff across the Library to engage in activity to support accessibility of third-party resources via the Working Group
• To build on the work of other organizations that are active in this area (eg. ASPIRE Textbox)
• To ensure that accessibility is given sufficient weighting in our decisions as to supplier selections on National Framework Agreements, etc.

Membership, roles and responsibilities

Expectations of members

To be a success, the working group requires the full and equal engagement of all its members including:

• That they will be responsible for maintaining and updating progress on the action plan, the supplier spreadsheet, the public facing spreadsheet and the Working Group webpage in a timely manner and ahead of any group meeting
• That they will proactively recommend new actions and changes to existing actions and workflows as circumstances change
• As meeting notes and actions will be AI-generated, members will share responsibility for ensuring that these are an accurate representation of activity at meetings
• That they will share best practice with regard to effective supplier liaison and ensure that key contacts are kept updated
• That they will ensure that responsibility for tasks is shared equally across the Working Group
• That they will display resilience in committing to this, sometimes frustrating, work and that any issues will be communicated openly
• That they will balance accessibility tasks with their existing and ongoing commitments and that they will flag instances in which the latter have to take priority
• That they will take a proactive lead on engaging the whole cohort of Library staff to take positive action on accessibility
• That they will take a proactive lead on determining how we engage our end users and customer groups in accessibility
• That they will ensure positive changes and good practice are communicated, celebrated and shared with Content Budget Management Group and with relevant Library colleagues
• That they will participate in the administration, organisation and development of the group
• That they will be proactive in their use of the Teams space to share issues and learn from each other, both inside and outside of any formal meetings.

Governance

• The Third-Party Resources Accessibility Working Group will be responsible for the mobilisation of third content accessibility within the Library
• Working Group membership will be drawn from across teams responsible for the acquisition, discoverability, access, activation and digital communications of third-party resources
• Other members may be co-opted from time to time to provide advice, support and leadership in defined areas of expertise as necessary.

The Working Group is responsible for:

• Developing and delivering an annual action plan
• Encouraging and supporting grass roots action by engaging all Library staff with third party resources accessibility activities
• Communicating the work of the group to our staff
• Working Group meetings will normally be every six weeks and last no more than 30 minutes.
• If a member is unable to attend, they can nominate an alternate to attend in their place.
• Meetings will consist of a mix of online and face to face according to the agenda items and activity required

Governance structure and relationships

Indicative diagram showing the links between Third-Party Resources Accessibility Working Group and other UoM Library / UoM Library Customer groups.