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Ottawa Library is committed to ensuring digital accessibility for people of all abilities. We are continually improving the user experience for everyone and applying the relevant accessibility standards to ensure our resources are available to all members of our community.
Measures to Support Accessibility
To ensure the Ottawa Library website remains accessible, we integrate the following practices into our operations:
Policy Integration: Accessibility is a core requirement of our internal digital policies.
Procurement: We prioritize accessibility when evaluating and selecting third-party vendors and software.
Staff Training: We provide ongoing accessibility training for staff members responsible for web content.
Accountability: We have assigned clear accessibility goals and responsibilities within our digital team.
Conformance Status
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) defines requirements for designers and developers to improve accessibility for people with disabilities. It defines three levels of conformance: Level A, Level AA, and Level AAA. Ottawa Library is currently partially conformant with WCAG 2.2 Level AA. Partially conformant means that some parts of the content do not yet fully conform to the accessibility standard.
Technical Specifications
The accessibility of Ottawa Library relies on the following technologies to work with your web browser and any assistive technologies (such as screen readers) installed on your computer:
HTML
WAI-ARIA
CSS
JavaScript
Known Limitations & Alternatives
Despite our best efforts to ensure the accessibility of the Ottawa Library website, some limitations exist. Below is a description of known issues and potential solutions:
Third-Party Content: Certain widgets or embedded tools, such as LibCal, are provided by third-party developers and may not fully meet WCAG standards. We regularly advocate for accessibility improvements with these vendors.
Legacy Content: As our site is currently undergoing accessibility upgrades, some content created prior to 2026 may not yet be fully optimized. We are systematically reviewing and updating this content as part of our digital roadmap.
Need help? If you encounter an issue, please email webmaster@ottawalibrary.org with the subject "Accessibility." Provide a brief description of the problem, and we will do our best to provide the information in an alternative format.
Feedback Process
We welcome your feedback. Please let us know if you encounter accessibility barriers:
E-mail: webmaster@ottawalibrary.org
Response Time: We aim to respond to all accessibility-related feedback within 2 business days.
Assessment Appoach
Ottawa Library assessed the accessibility of this website via self-evaluation and internal testing utilizing the following tools:
IBM Accessibility Checker
WAVE Report
