Accessibility Guide to Library Eresources: Vendors P-S

Resource type: Bibliographic databases, books, full text primary resources

Web accessibility standard:

Section 508 of the US Rehabilitation Act.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
Level A and Level AA of the WAI Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0).

Instructions for screen reader users and changing background colours:

If you do a Basic search and go back to the search box on the Results page, your original keywords are retained so you need to delete them. Many articles are scanned images and cannot be converted by Adobe Reader. Please contact the Library for further help.

Overriding the database colours will remove the Basic search button. It is still to the right of the search box.

There is information about the accessibility of individual Proquest databases via the link below

Literature online (LION):

Instructions for screen reader users:

As Quick Search will provide many results, it is recommended that you go to the separate search pages for Authors, Texts and Criticism and Reference. On these separate search pages, if you list the forms on the page the first two relate to Quick search, enter your search terms from Keywords: Edit onwards. Results are listed in the order of check box, reference details, then Full Text and/or Full Text-PDF. Always use the Full Text option, if provided, as the Full Text-PDF, won't always read correctly.

List of Proquest databases

Accessibility details for individual databases

Resource type: Database

Web accessibility standard:

Screen reader and keyboard only users:

Pubmed has recently been amended so that article titles now appear as links to further information, rather than the authors, so the database is easier to navigate.

Information from publisher's website:          

The National Library of Medicine is making every effort to ensure that the information available on our Web site is accessible to all. Some parts of the PubMed Central archive may not be fully accessible to persons with disabilities, even with assistive technology. If you are a person with a disability or use assistive technology and encounter problems when using our site and its contents, please let us know. We will work with you to provide the information to you in an alternate format.
Contact Customer Service at custserv@nlm.nih.gov or phone us at 888-FIND-NLM (346-3656) or 301-594-5983 and provide the page URL, PMCID, or Journal and article title on which you need assistance, along with a description of the problem. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/about/accessibility/)

Link to NLM accessibility information

Resource type: Journals

Web accessibility standard:

Instructions for screen reader and keyboard users:

If you are using keyboard strokes rather than a mouse you can conduct a Search all journals search, but will not be able to access the results as links on the page do not outline. You will not be able to access the Advanced Search link or browse. Screen reader users will find the results difficult to navigate quickly, as the article titles are neither links nor have they been allocated heading levels. If you choose the Advanced search link, the default is to search SAGE Journals available to me, rather than all content. You will not be able to browse.

Resource type: Journals, Ebooks

Web accessibility standard:

World Wide Web Consortium's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0

Section 508 Standards  of the Federal Rehabilitation Act

Instructions for screen reader and keyboard users:

To conduct a subject search rather than using the search options on the ScienceDirect home page, go to the search page so you can narrow your search more easily. To access this page, list the links on the page and choose Advanced Search, which appears between Publications and My Settings.

This search page defaults to searching All Sources. To only search books or journals, list the links on the page and choose the relevant option. The search boxes from the home page still appear at the top of the page, so to access the search boxes just for journals, books etc, list the forms on the page and read below first Search Button. 

On the results page the article and chapter titles are listed as links. Select the article or chapter title to access the HTML full text. Check boxes are provided before the reference details. PDFs are untagged and need to be converted using Adobe Reader.

From the publisher website:

Screen Reader Friendly

• HTML journal articles and book chapters are compatible with screen readers such as JAWS, NVDA and Apple's VoiceOver.
• Pages are well structured using headings, landmarks and lists which allow users of assistive technology to easily jump around pages.
• Math content is available in MathML, which can be spoken by text-to-speech engines or converted to Braille and pasted into math equation editors or Microsoft Office documents.
• Pages employ ARIA (Accessibility for Rich Internet Applications) to enhance navigation, orientation and labeling for users of screen readers and other assistive technology.
• Images have alternative text descriptions to convey the meaning of an image to screen readers.
• PDFs with searchable text are available.

Keyboard Friendly

• Pages include a visible skip navigation link to skip repetitive elements.
• Keyboard-only users can jump directly to a main section in a journal article or book by using the left-side table of contents.
• Controls and features are operable using keyboard only.
• Pages provide logical tab order.
• When opening dialog windows and panes, the system places the cursor in logical places.

Flexible Display

• Pages use separate cascading style sheets (CSS), allowing users to more easily customize the display and contrast.
• Pages are usable when style sheets are disabled.
• Users can enlarge pages and text with either browser controls or screen magnification software such as GW Micro's Windows-Eyes or AI Squared's ZoomText.
• Content can be viewed in either HTML or PDF.

ScienceDirect Web Accessibility pages

Resource type: Database

Web accessibility standard:

U.S. Section 508 Standards of the Federal Rehabilitation Act

World Wide Web Consortium's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0

Instructions for screen reader users:

In the results page article titles are links. To read the abstract, select the appropriate article title link, list the links on the following page and move to Check if the OU offers full-text. Read from there to hear the title, authors and abstract.

Information from publisher's website:

We test Scopus on a variety of devices and with assistive technology including JAWS screen reader, NVDA, keyboard only and a variety of browser testing tools.

Some of the accessibility features of Scopus include:

• The user interface is well-structured HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
• All primary functions in Scopus are operable using keyboard only, with logical tab order.
• Search result pages show obvious highlighting of the row in focus to provide orientation for keyboard-only sighted users.
• Scopus uses properly structured headings, allowing users of screen readers to navigate pages more quickly.
• JavaScript functionality is operable using keyboard friendly event handlers.
• Graphical elements such as images and icons are supplemented by HTML text attributes.
• User interface panes and page sections are identified by headings.
• Color coding is minimal and is supplemented by meaningful text.
• Animated tutorials are also available as HTML text files.
• Scopus uses separate CSS files and is also usable with CSS turned off.
• Required fields are marked using asterisks
• Form elements are tagged with <label>.
• Scopus uses primarily standard HTML form elements such as checkboxes and radio buttons, which offer state information to assistive technology such as JAWS.
• Pages have unique and descriptive page titles to help orient users of screen readers.
• All content and controls are compatible with screen enlargement software in addition to compatibility with built-in browser zoom functionality.
• Scopus does not have features that interfere with standard API features of the OS including MSAA (Microsoft Active Accessibility).
• A skip navigation link is available for screen reader users.

Scopus web accessibility and help

Resource type: Journals, Ebooks

Web accessibility standard:

Instructions for screen reader and keyboard users:

Keyboard only users will not be able to browse this database. Screen reader users can browse to journal issues by listing headings, going to the heading for the volume and year and pressing Enter. This makes the issues for the volume accessible. List links to go to an issue.