[Board] Discussion item: VPAT

[Galen Charlton]

Hi,

The inquiry on evergreen-general this morning requesting a VPAT (which,
interestingly, was also sent to the Koha general mailing list) inspired me
with a suggestion: I think TEP should consider commissioning VPATs.

The VPAT, or Voluntary Product Accessibility Template, is a template for
producing Accessibility Conformance Reports (ACRs). They are increasingly
required during ILS service procurements and by government institutions,
including libraries, as part of demonstrating current accessibility
conformance. I believe that many institutions of higher education, both
public and private, are also requiring that their units solicit VPATs.

An example of a VPAT for an open source library system can be found on
EBSCO's website <
https://connect.ebsco.com/s/article/EBSCO-VPATs?language=en_US> - the last
entry is for FOLIO's discovery system.

Were TEP to commission a VPAT (or arguably, two - one for OPAC and one for
staff) and publish it, that would help demonstrate the project's commitment
to accessibility and assist current and potential Evergreen users with
making the choice to adopt (or continue) the use of Evergreen.

Based on Equinox's experience, we've found that VPATs can cost between $750
and $3,500 based on the number of interfaces evaluated and the depth of the
evaluation. I should note that a typical VPAT isn't necessarily going to be
a complete analysis of all accessibility issues and how to remediate them,
as the ACR is typically meant to be a high-level overview.

If TEP were to do this, in the long run this probably becomes a periodic
expense. HECVATs, for example, suggest that any VPATs should not be too
old.

Regards,

Galen
-- 
Galen Charlton
Implementation and IT Manager
Equinox Open Library Initiative
gmc at equinoxOLI.org
https://www.equinoxOLI.org
phone: 877-OPEN-ILS (673-6457)
direct: 770-709-5581
<http://evergreen-ils.org>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://list.evergreen-ils.org/pipermail/board/attachments/20230606/b70a7430/attachment.htm>