The Office of Thesis and Dissertation Format Review at Mississippi State University established accessibility standards for thesis and dissertation submission during the spring 2020 semester. This article will look at the rationale for the included requirements and the implementations made by the office’s faculty and staff

Robinson, Teri M

Threet, Lara

English

United Arab Emirates University: Scholarworks@UAEU / جامعة الامارات

The Journal of Electronic Theses and Dissertations Volume 3 Article 3 2024 Creating Web Accessibility Standards for Thesis and Dissertation Submission at Mississippi State University Teri M. Robinson Mississippi State University, trobinson@library.msstate.edu Lara Threet Mississippi State University, lthreet@colled.msstate.edu Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uaeu.ac.ae/j-etd  Part of the Library and Information Science Commons Recommended Citation Robinson, Teri M. and Threet, Lara (2024) "Creating Web Accessibility Standards for Thesis and Dissertation Submission at Mississippi State University," The Journal of Electronic Theses and Dissertations: Vol. 3, Article 3. Available at: https://scholarworks.uaeu.ac.ae/j-etd/vol3/iss1/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarworks@UAEU. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Journal of Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized editor of Scholarworks@UAEU. For more information, please contact j-etd@ndltd.org. CREATING WEB ACCESSIBILITY STANDARDS FOR THESIS AND DISSERTATION SUBMISSION AT MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY     Creating Web Accessibility Standards for Thesis and Dissertation Submission at Mississippi State University  Teri M. Robinson1 and Lara Threet2 1Office of Thesis and Dissertation Format Review; Mississippi State University 2Department of Industrial Technology, Instructional Design, and Community College Leadership; Mississippi State University  Author Note Teri M. Robinson https://orcid.org/0009-0003-9269-5072 Lara Threet https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1828-2021 We have no conflict of interest to disclose. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Teri M. Robinson, Mississippi State University, 395 Hardy Rd., P.O. Box 5408, Mail Stop 9570, Mississippi State, MS 39762, Email: trobinson@library.msstate.edu   CREATING WEB ACCESSIBILITY STANDARDS FOR THESIS AND DISSERTATION  1 SUBMISSION AT MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY Abstract The Office of Thesis and Dissertation Format Review at Mississippi State University established accessibility standards for thesis and dissertation submission during the spring 2020 semester. This article will look at the rationale for the included requirements and the implementations made by the office’s faculty and staff. Keywords: web accessibility, theses, dissertations, academic library, accessibility standards   CREATING WEB ACCESSIBILITY STANDARDS FOR THESIS AND DISSERTATION  2 SUBMISSION AT MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY  Creating Web Accessibility Standards for Thesis and Dissertation Submission at Mississippi State University Introduction Over the last several years, there has been an uptick in accessibility lawsuits for companies/organizations not providing adequate accessibility features to those users who require additional support to view or use the site (Ronen, 2022). This includes university libraries, their websites, and repositories. In 2019, Mississippi State University (MSU) initiated the requirement that all university related websites and posted online resources be accessible to all users. (Mississippi State University, n.d.-a) This includes theses and dissertations (ETDs) submitted to the university’s institutional repository (IR), Scholar’s Junction (maintained by BePress). The Office of Thesis and Dissertation Format Review (OTD) worked with other library personnel, information technology services, and research organizations on campus to develop and implement strategies to ensure all ETDs submitted to the IR met federal standards. Background The OTD is a part of the Mitchell Memorial Library at MSU, an R1 land grant institution with 45 departments across eight colleges that grant master’s and doctoral degrees. In fall of 2021, the total enrollment for the university was 23,086 students, with 4,104 being graduate students. The OTD is comprised of one full-time faculty member, one full-time professional staff member, and one part-time student worker. The office oversees formatting, approval, and preservation of all ETDs submitted to MSU. Formatting standards are established with approval from both the Graduate School and Graduate Council. With the help of departmental faculty, the CREATING WEB ACCESSIBILITY STANDARDS FOR THESIS AND DISSERTATION  3 SUBMISSION AT MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY office created multiple pre-formatted templates (five based in Microsoft Word, one in LaTeX) for students to use when formatting their ETD. The office offers an average of ten formatting workshops each semester, consisting of both in person and online options which are composed of general, college specific, and Mac user formatting workshops. In addition to workshops, OTD employees meet with departments by request, provide various prerecorded tutorial videos, and schedule one-on-one formatting consultations with graduate students. The office averages 107 submissions per semester, with higher numbers of submissions during the spring and summer semesters. A breakdown of submission numbers for the last three academic years is listed in the table below. Table 1 Submission numbers by semester Manuscript Type Fall 2019 Spring 2020 Summer 2020 Fall 2020 Spring 2021 Summer 2021 Fall 2021 Spring 2022 Summer 2022 Thesis 37 73 69 36 48 64 44 67 52 Dissertation 44 63 49 47 48 63 39 71 51 Total 81 136 118 83 96 127 83 138 103  Students submit all ETDs to the OTD electronically. Our office has changed management systems and repositories multiple times since electronic submission became a requirement in 2009. Currently, Canvas is the online learning management system utilized by the university for initial submission and format review. Once formatting is approved, the document is converted from Word to PDF (LaTeX documents are an exception to this since they are already in PDF format) and students submit it to both ProQuest and our IR. CREATING WEB ACCESSIBILITY STANDARDS FOR THESIS AND DISSERTATION  4 SUBMISSION AT MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY Determining Requirements During the fall 2019 semester, our office began the process of creating accessibility standards after MSU updated campus web accessibility standards. All ETDs are affected by this policy since they are made publicly available through the IR. Our goal was to create a set of standards that could be implemented by the start of the Spring 2020 semester that met the AA level of WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) 2.0. (World Wide Web Consortium, n.d.) Since no one in OTD had experience with accessibility, there would be a learning curve to determine what was needed and how to teach these requirements to students. We set up a series of meetings with others on campus who had experience and expertise in accessibility. We also surveyed current accessibility practices of other institutions in order to set a benchmark for our standards. We began our accessibility initiative with campus technology support (ITS). As a component of the University's accessibility initiative, ITS offered workshops on making documents accessible in both Microsoft and Adobe. OTD personnel attended an ITS workshop and learned the importance of document navigation through use of styles and headings, how to add alternative text to images in both Word and PDF documents, how to add tags to PDFs, and how to properly convert a Word document to a PDF. ITS also reviewed our ETD templates and confirmed a variety of the built-in components, such as styles and headings, already met several accessibility standards by providing navigation to the documents and setting font standards. Our next meeting was with the National Research and Training Center on Blindness and Low Vision (NRTC). This office is located on MSU’s main campus and is the “nation’s only federally funded center focused on employment outcomes for people who are blind or have low vision. The NRTC produces field-leading research and provides training to professionals ranging   CREATING WEB ACCESSIBILITY STANDARDS FOR THESIS AND DISSERTATION  5 SUBMISSION AT MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY from direct-service practitioners to administrators of state agencies and federal programs” (Mississippi State University, n.d.-b). Their communication specialist explained how screen readers work and the importance of document styles and headings when considering accessibility. They also explained why blank spaces are disruptive to screen readers and why trying to simplify tables would be beneficial. Their guidance reinforced our understanding of the importance of styles and headings, especially when using screen readers to read documents. They also discussed how tables with merged or blank cells are not easy for screen readers to read. After those on campus meetings, OTD then benchmarked other institutions’ accessibility standards. Penn State (PSU), Michigan State (MS), and California State University San Marcos (CSUSM) (California State University San Marcos, n.d.; Michigan State University, n.d.; Penn State & IT Accessibility Group, n.d.) all have robust accessibility standards and have much of the information available online. PSU’s accessibility website provides information on how to check documents to ensure they follow WCAG guidelines. MS provides information on how to complete final accessibility checks in Adobe. And CSUSM provides tutorials to students on how to create accessible documents. (California State University San Marcos/University Library, n.d.) From the meetings and benchmarking efforts, we decided which WCAG guidelines would be the basis for our submission standards in order to create the most impact for document accessibility, but which could also be completed in the short submission time frame. We would use the following standards as our requirements and create reasonable expectations that could be met by students and our office during ETD submission. • Headings and document navigation (Guideline 2.4) • Alternative text for images and equations (Guideline 1.1) CREATING WEB ACCESSIBILITY STANDARDS FOR THESIS AND DISSERTATION  6 SUBMISSION AT MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY • Proper table format (Guideline 1.3) • Color contrast (Guideline 1.4) Web Accessibility Requirements Headings and Document Navigation In our meeting with ITS, our office learned that our templates already provided the necessary headings and navigation to assist students with ensuring their documents met this accessibility standard. However, up to this point, students were only encouraged to use the templates. We determined that making template use mandatory for ETD submission would ensure all documents have this key accessibility feature. Alternative Text Alternative text is the most contested aspect of our accessibility requirements. Our goal was to make this as easy on the students as possible. Students generally provide all necessary detail to explain the images, charts, and graphs included in their research within the text of their document. However, we determined it was best for students to also provide a brief description of the image as well as a page number where the image is discussed further in the document for their alternative text. Most students, and some faculty, do not initially understand why they are required to add a second description to their documents, and guidance as to why this matters for accessibility purposes has to be provided. This responsibility falls fully on the student. The office only verifies that each image has properly entered alternative text and ensures that it is not autogenerated or marked as decorative. If it is determined the text lacks clarity, the student will be asked to provide more information. Adding alternative text to equations was determined to be necessary because some screen readers lack the ability to read Word math languages and symbols. (NikolinoDE, 2021) Instead CREATING WEB ACCESSIBILITY STANDARDS FOR THESIS AND DISSERTATION  7 SUBMISSION AT MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY of requiring students to complete the cumbersome task of converting equations to images in order to add alternative text, we decided to have students place equations in a table cell. This allows students to use their preferred math language. When adding alternative text for the equation, OTD personnel went back and forth on whether students should provide full detailed explanations of the equation or if it should be a reference to the intext explanation of the equation. After much debate, campus legal counsel was asked for their opinion. Their guidance led to our current policy of having students use a standard language that refers users to the page where the equation is discussed in the document. If more information is necessary, readers are referred to contact the author. Table Format For tables, we already required students to properly split tables so that the table number appears on each page of the table. The only additional requirement would be for students to ensure header row information appears on each page of the table, so column information remains clear for the reader. Since the Adobe accessibility checker does not find errors when tables lack alternative text, students are encouraged but not required to add that information. Existing issues with merged and complicated cells have been identified; however, most students use tables that were part of previous publications or discipline standards. While we understand complicated tables are an accessibility concern, we currently believe this would be too cumbersome for students to complete within the short submission process timeframe. Color Contrast Color contrast is something students are encouraged to check, but difficult to implement as it is more of a subjective concept than a concrete process. Neither Adobe nor Word accessibility checkers identify specific color contrast issues. For this, examples are provided in CREATING WEB ACCESSIBILITY STANDARDS FOR THESIS AND DISSERTATION  8 SUBMISSION AT MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY both the accessibility handout and tutorial video. Students are asked to check their images and graphs using greyscale to see if there is enough contrast. While many students can make improvements, others are unable due to the programs used to create their graphs and charts. Images from scans and microscopes are also difficult to edit. Outcomes, Limitations, and Future Plans OTD created several resources for students to aid them with the new standards. These resources include a step-by-step handout that demonstrates each of the requirements and a tutorial video that walks students through the multiple steps. Once a student completes formatting and accessibility requirements, our office converts the final approved document from Word to PDF. This workflow was initiated because, at the time, Adobe Pro was only available on campus owned computers, not as software available for all students. Not having access to this program prevents students from being able to complete the final accessibility check in Adobe that looks for alternative text, tab order, and document tagging. Adobe editing tools are only available to students who can access campus provided computers. Since submission of ETDs is free, OTD cannot require students to purchase Adobe software package to complete submission, so the current process will continue for now. ETDs created using LaTeX pose issues for our office where accessibility is concerned. Students using LaTeX are not required to include accessibility in their submission. An effective way to add tagging and bookmarks to a LaTeX document that does not interfere with visibility of the document was not developed when setting accessibility requirements. The current option adds unusual formatting or presents errors when the document is run through the accessibility checkers in Adobe. CREATING WEB ACCESSIBILITY STANDARDS FOR THESIS AND DISSERTATION  9 SUBMISSION AT MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY The OTD believes the current standards provide robust accessibility to documents without demanding unreasonable expectations from students. Pushback received from students and graduate faculty was minimal, as OTD was able to explain the importance and legality of the new requirements. MSU became an Adobe Creative Cloud campus during the Fall 2022 semester. The hope is this will allow for the eventual transfer of certain tasks currently provided by office personnel over to the students without making the submission process too cumbersome. Going forward, our goals are to monitor updates to the WCAG guidelines to ensure our requirements are up to date, find a way to successfully create LaTeX documents that meet our standards, and find a way for students to simplify their tables to meet accessibility standards without having to completely reformat them.  CREATING WEB ACCESSIBILITY STANDARDS FOR THESIS AND DISSERTATION  10 SUBMISSION AT MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY References California State University San Marcos. (n.d.). Web Accessibility Requirements. Instructional and Information Technology Services (IITS). https://www.csusm.edu/iits/services/accessibility/guides/webati.html  California State University San Marcos/University Library. (n.d.). Submitting your Thesis or Project to the Library: ADA Compliance Formatting. CSUSM Library Guides. https://libguides.csusm.edu/thesis_info/ADA  Michigan State University. (n.d.). Digital Accessibility. Web Accessibility. https://webaccess.msu.edu/  Mississippi State University. (n.d.-a). Knowledge base. Service Desk. https://servicedesk.msstate.edu/TDClient/45/Portal/KB/  Mississippi State University. (n.d.-b). National Research and Training Center on Blindness and Low Vision. https://www.blind.msstate.edu/  NikolinoDE. (2021, July 27). Accessibility: Equation Editor Suggestions? [Online forum post]. Techcommunity. https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/word/accessibility-equation-editor-suggestions/m-p/2589814  Penn State University & IT Accessibility Group. (n.d.). Accessibility and Usability at Penn State. Accessibility. https://accessibility.psu.edu/  Ronen, R. (2022, April 14). ADA Compliance for Websites: Getting It Right. Forbes.com. https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbesbusinesscouncil/2022/01/21/ada-compliance-for-websites-getting-it-right/  World Wide Web Consortium. (n.d.). Making the Web Work. W3. https://www.w3.org/   

Creating Web Accessibility Standards for Thesis and Dissertation Submission at Mississippi State University

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Creating Web Accessibility Standards for Thesis and Dissertation Submission at Mississippi State University

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