Who we are
The Library Accessibility Alliance (LAA) advocates for improving library e-resource accessibility.
We are a multi-consortial organization, with each member organization contributing funding and expertise. Our current members are:
- Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA)
- Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL)
- Greater Western Library Alliance (GWLA)
- Washington Research Library Consortium (WRLC)
- Ivy Plus Libraries Confederation (IPLC)
- Florida Virtual Campus (FLVC)
- University System of Maryland and Affiliated Institutions (USMAI)
Vision, mission, values
Vision
Shifting library culture and practice toward justice and belonging for people with disabilities.
Mission
Empowering libraries through collective action, building shared and collaborative community and responsibility among ourselves, our partners, and with vendors, and providing a platform for knowledge sharing, centered on supporting library employees and patrons.
Core values
- Act as a collective.
- Build relationships.
- Be accountable.
- Commit to cross-disability solidarity.
- Support growth in understanding.
- Promote accessible-first design.
- Move beyond compliance toward belonging.
What we do
- Independent accessibility evaluations: We primarily fund third-party accessibility evaluations of electronic resource library platforms. Vendors receive copies of the evaluation reports, and we publish the reports to the public on our E-resources testing page. We also provide opportunities for vendors to meet with the evaluator for additional information and guidance on improving the accessibility of their product(s).
- Training Opportunities: The LAA works with its member organizations to identify and develop open, freely available webinars on topics related to accessibility in academic libraries. Recordings of past webinars and information about upcoming sessions can be found on the events page.
- Toolkits: We created and maintain the Library Accessibility Toolkit, a living document that provides readers with resources related to library accessibility.
- Licensing language: The Big Ten Academic Alliance, a founding member of LAA, created model licensing language about accessibility that libraries can use or adapt to address accessibility concerns with electronic resource vendors.
The resources page of this website provides a comprehensive list of our efforts.
How to join
We welcome consortia interested in joining our efforts and that can actively contribute to our work. Consortia may apply at any time by filling out the expression of interest form. Membership generally begins at the beginning of the calendar year, but may be delayed to allow us to on-board new members effectively.
For complete information on membership and requirements, please review our governance structure. If you have questions, reach out to any of our consortial leads listed on this page.
About our logo
The LAA logo is comprised of an image of a person not defined by one color, with their arms outstretched, around two other people. The person with arms outstretched is one of the universal symbols for accessibility on the web. The multiple circles represent the consortia joining together, and the empty right side shows there is always room for more. Lastly the circles, arranged in 3 dots, 1 dot, 1 dot, resemble the Braille alphabet characters for "LAA", the abbreviation for the Library Accessibility Alliance.
The color blue is preferable for color blindness and incorporates high contrast for improved readability.
A Roman Serif font is used for its clean aesthetic, readability, and universal browser support.
The logo was designed by Joel Shields.