[Board] Discussion item: VPAT

[Frasur, Ruth]

Galen,

I was contacted directly by Phillip, and I believe that several others have been or will be.  In my response, I included Stephanie Leary as the new leader of the UI Interest Group to spark some discussion there as well.  Having done some preliminary research on this, I’m in agreement with you.

Ruth Frasur (she/they)
Coordinator
Evergreen Indiana Library Consortium
Evergreen Community Development Initiative
Indiana State Library
140 N. Senate Ave.
Indianapolis, IN 46204
(317) 232-3691

From: Board <board-bounces at list.evergreen-ils.org> On Behalf Of Galen Charlton via Board
Sent: Tuesday, June 6, 2023 9:43 AM
To: EOB-public <board at list.evergreen-ils.org>
Subject: [Board] Discussion item: VPAT

**** This is an EXTERNAL email. Exercise caution. DO NOT open attachments or click links from unknown senders or unexpected email. ****
________________________________
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<mailto:gmc at equinoxOLI.org>
https://www.equinoxOLI.org<https://protect2.fireeye.com/v1/url?k=31323334-50bba2bf-31367a34-4544474f5631-58c7608fb94d6f45&q=1&e=52aa66bd-e3b1-499e-8db4-3d737a165114&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.equinoxoli.org%2F>
phone: 877-OPEN-ILS (673-6457)
direct: 770-709-5581
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://list.evergreen-ils.org/pipermail/board/attachments/20230606/9a868804/attachment-0001.htm>