OCUL Accessibility Symposium 2.0

Carli Agostino, OCUL Accessibility Community Co-chair (Carleton University)

Megan McMeekin, OCUL Accessibility Community Co-chair (University of Ottawa)

Keynote - Making the World Come True: How the stories we tell can help us usher in a more accessible world

Join disabled author and disability rights advocate Amanda Leduc for a keynote presentation on her publishing journey, and how weaving disability representation into stories can help all of us work toward a new, more accessible future. 

Cracking the Mask: From “Advocating as Student” to “Advocating for Students” in my Early Career

This session will highlight the presenter's experience as a recent university graduate and as an early career library technician living with neurodiversity. Considering this context, she will lend her perspective to creating a culture of inclusion for students and staff at post-secondary libraries.

No, Really, Which Search Engine Do I Use? Making a Guide for Finding Accessible Documents

Finding and linking accessible documents from the libraries can be anything but a simple task. A user guide can help support the process, but changes to database systems are needed. This presentation reviews library system variables and potential ways to reduce barriers using training materials, advocacy, and relationships with instructors and vendors. Attendees will leave the presentation with tips for identifying barriers in their own systems that may prevent access to alternative formats, as well as tips for addressing barriers through with a variety of resources and methods.

Perspectives on Access: Navigating Accommodations Across Campus

This panel features academic community members sharing their lived experiences navigating campus systems to access accommodations and support — whether through library services, the disability services office, academic programs, or the workplace more broadly. Panelists will also reflect on how academic libraries can better support their learning, research, and teaching, offering valuable insights into the barriers they've encountered and the changes they hope to see.

Toufic Chehab (Student, Carleton University) 

Sierra LeFave (Student, Toronto Metropolitan University) 

Sophie Spirkl (Faculty, University of Waterloo)

Reversing the Gaze: Finding the Friction Points in Accommodation

This presentation will focus on the accommodations process in Ontario libraries. We will talk about the 'predicament of disclosure' inherent in asking for accommodation and outline strategies for library organizations and managers to indicate they are invested in creating an accessible workplace.

Heather Hill (Western University)

Kevin Oswald (Western University)

Beyond the Default: A Starter Kit for Implementing Database Accessibility Icons

Queen’s University Library improved access to multimedia resources by adding accessibility icons to its A-Z database landing page, helping users more easily identify video databases that meet their individual needs. We will share the steps involved in this initiative, such as assessing video databases, developing icon categories, and collaborating across teams to enhance discovery, along with resources to implement something similar at your institution.

Carling Spinney (Queen's University)

Angélique Roy (Queen's University)

Streamlining Access: The Development and Implementation of the ACE Self-Declaration Form

The Accessible Content E-Portal (ACE), offered by Scholars Portal, provides accessible library materials to individuals with perceptual disabilities at Ontario post-secondary institutions. Trent University Library & Archives, in collaboration with Student Accessibility Services, developed a self-declaration form to streamline ACE token access while protecting user privacy, ensuring legal compliance, and enhancing accessibility for both students and faculty. This presentation will highlight the ACE Self-Declaration form, focusing on its rationale, development, and implementation.

Ellen Olsen-Lynch (Trent University)

Allison Ridgway (Trent University)

Teaching Digital Accessibility in the Digital Humanities: Some Semi-Successful Approaches

This presentation will be about three ways an academic librarian has taught digital accessibility with varying levels of success and failure: a digital book about making accessible digital books, a lesson plan for a classroom discussion about WCAG, and a “cheat sheet” flier about the “Top 7 Things for Digital Accessibility."

Empowering Inclusive Learning: Leveraging Accessibility Metadata in Ontario's Post-Secondary Libraries

What is accessibility metadata and why is it important? In this presentation, you will learn about standards and best practices and find out what you can do to move academic libraries forward.

Madeleine Rothberg (GBH)

Christopher Carr (Concordia University)

Charles LaPierre (Benetech)

Fat Accessibility Concerns in Academic Libraries: A Primer

This presentation will ask participants to consider the ways in which anti-fat bias is present in their library spaces as an accessibility concern. It will provide an introduction to anti-fatness generally and the ways it has been identified in library furniture and in the experiences of fat library workers, culminating in some suggestions for changes.

Perceived and Unperceived Barriers to Access for Gaming Library Collections

Gaming collections in libraries can support both recreational and academic pursuits while advancing equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility. This presentation explores accessibility in the gaming industry, the challenges libraries face in offering accessible and discoverable collections, and highlights opportunities for inclusive programming, collection development, and user support.

Integrating Accessibility into Database Procurement Processes

As libraries provide access to an ever-increasing array of online subscription-based databases, the accessibility of these resources has not always kept pace with accepted accessibility best practices or legal requirements. In this session, we will describe how to develop a collaborative cohort-based process for reviewing database accessibility and communicating with vendors based on our experience as part of the State University of New York system and the practices developed by other institutions who have collaborated to improve database access at their institutions.

Carli Spina (Fashion Institute of Technology)

Rebecca Oling (SUNY Purchase)

From Concept to Creation: Developing an Open Access Resource for Accessible Library Teaching

McMaster University Libraries launched the "Accessible Library Teaching" initiative to create an open-access resource to help library staff nationwide develop knowledge and skills in accessibility, specifically in the ways that we teach and interact with learners. In this panel, the editors of the Accessible Library Teaching book and several chapter authors will share their motivation in joining this project as well as their experiences with working on developing this resource.

Anna Flak (McMaster University)

Katie Harding (McMaster University)

Katie Merriman (McMaster University)

Matt Fesnak (McMaster University)

Nancy Waite (McMaster University)