Add an accessibility tag

[kerstarno]

Creator of issue

1. Lydia Tang
2. lydia.tang@lyrasis.org
3. Lyrasis

The issue relates to

• EAC-CPF schema issue
• EAC-CPF Tag Library issue
• EAC-F schema issue
• EAC-F Tag Library issue
• EAD schema issue
• EAD Tag Library issue
• Schema issue
• Tag Library issue
• Suggestions for all schemas
• Suggestions for all Tag Libraries
• Other

Wanted change/feature

• Text: (Putting on my hat as former chair of the Accessibility and Disability Section)
  I noticed that some ePub publishers are adding an accessibility note into their data structure standards. The scope of this note would be to note any accessibility features and potential barriers. Accessibility is gaining greater prominence because of the European Accessibility Act and ADA Title II in the US. Thanks for considering!

Suggested Solution

• Text: Add an accessibility tag for EAD (not sure about the other standards)

[kerstarno]

Submitted via the TS-EAS webform as part of the Call for Comments on EAD4.0 in spring 2025. Some additional clarification and examples, if available, have been requested via email. Following their receipt, we will discuss this issue during one of our next meetings.

[kerstarno]

Additional input received via email, but the issue remains two-fold: ensuring accessibility for the Tag Libraries and other documentation on the one hand and considerations around having an element or attribute to encode accessibility information on the other. Examples provided with regard to the latter include:

• This collection consists of paper records without digital surrogates. For accessibility requests, please contact us.
• Oral histories in this collection are digitized and online with transcripts.
• This collection contains 20-pound bound volumes. To access these materials, please request handling assistance.

On top of this, the following point was raised in the email conversation: whether there is an EAD tag for reparative descriptions or content warnings with the example provided being: "This collection contains historically offensive and harmful terminology of disabled people.".

While the EAD team discussed this briefly during their meeting on 27 June, it was decided to bring this question back to the whole TS-EAS at their annual meeting between 11 and 14 August. The issue will be updated afterwards again.

[kerstarno]

Following the decision at the TS-EAS Annual Meeting on 12 August, the description of the element <accessConditions> in the Tag Library has been extended. The concept of "accessibility" has been added to the concept of general "access" and "availability" conveyed with this element. If suitable in a specific application context, the element can be repeated and statements specific to accessibility services could e.g. be marked by using @localType.

This change is addressed in PR #205.

As for the aspect of content warnings, it was noted that such notes, their structure, design and use might foremost be a question of the content/description standard used in a specific context (e.g. DACS for the North American community). Furthermore, the display of such notes will be dependent on the system used.