![]()
|
Message:
|
Hello UAIG!
This month, we would love to hear about your experiences working with library vendors. A big portion of our jobs as librarians is contracting with outside vendors to acquire the resources our community needs- but often these vendors aren't thinking about accessibility. Further, legal precedent has made it clear that it's libraries' responsibility to choose vendors with accessible products. This creates an interesting and sometimes difficult dynamic that really requires us to build strong relationships with our vendors.
What good experiences have you had with vendors around accessibility?
What do you think you brought to the interaction that set it up for success?
What did the vendor do that you really appreciated?
---
For myself, I've had experiences that run the spectrum! The best experiences with vendors have been when it's clear they have already been thinking about accessibility. They have workflows and people dedicated to addressing shortcomings in their public-facing systems or products. Even these best experiences rarely include vendors updating inaccessible content with accessible replacements, which I continue to find disappointing.
On my end, the best experiences have been when I had concrete ideas beforehand about how I wanted the interaction to go. For example, telling the vendor what file format I wanted the accessible version in. Or, working with colleagues to decide what acceptable turnaround times for vendors are, and what we'll all do if those aren't met. Creating an escalation pathway like this helped us all respond the same way, but also helped me stick to a timeline instead of taking answers like "we're working on it!" at face value.
How about you?
------------------------------
Anaya Jones She/Her/Hers
___
Accessibility & Online Learning Librarian
Northeastern University
------------------------------
|
|
|
|
|