Accessibility at UTA Libraries

The University of Texas at Arlington Libraries is committed to providing accessible facilities, technology, services, and programming, as well as maintaining the accessibility of our digital content. We are also committed to disability awareness through our Texas Disability History Collection and the work of the Advocates for Disability and Accessibility Committee (ADAC).

We aim to make our facilities as accessible as possible to our disabled users.

Our spaces include the following accessibility features. If you have any accessibility concerns, please call the respective branch prior to your visit to discuss your concerns with a Libraries staff member.

Central

  • Sliding glass door entry
  • Wheelchair available upon request
  • Tables in a variety of heights throughout the building
  • Three elevators that access all seven floors
  • Active sensory space on the third floor (by the northwest stairwell)
  • Passive sensory space on the fifth floor (coming soon)

West Campus (formerly AFA)

  • Elevator access to floor where library branch resides
  • ADA push-button entry (coming soon)

Science & Engineering

  • Elevator access to floor where library branch resides
  • ADA push-button entry (coming soon)
  • If the PDF of an article or book chapter does not contain the appropriate accessibility improvements, such as heading levels and tags, or textual description of charts and illustrations, look to see if an HTML version is available through the publisher’s website. Library staff can assist with locating an alternate version as well.
  • Streaming videos licensed through the library’s subscriptions such as Alexander Street, Kanopy, and Swank Motion Pictures contain closed captioning.
  • Staff can also assist patrons by providing research consultations or locating desired materials in other formats.
  • Please contact erms@uta.edu regarding concerns or requests for accommodation needs regarding electronic resources available through the UTA Libraries.

Services

  • JAWS screen-reading software installed on all public computers across our branches

These services will be facilitated by The Studios team:

  • Braille Printer
  • Pictures in a Flash Tactile Embosser

Items Available for Lending

These items will be available to borrow through the tech lending machines or ask The Studios team to check out. 

  • Ambient Noise Machine
  • WorldPenScanX
  • TI-30XS Talking Calculator
  • Talking Graphing Calc- TI84 Plus
  • 10-digit Talking Calculator
  • Large Print Keyboards
  • Different types of Braille display 
    • Brailliant BI 20X cells with input
    • Brailliant BI40x v2 by Humaware
    • Mantis™ Q40: a Bluetooth® keyboard and 40-cellrefreshable braille display

While our events are developed with universal design in mind, we recognize that there is always more to learn about accommodations and the needs of our users. We welcome accommodations requests to address your concerns and so we can broaden our understanding of accessibility and universal design to ensure our future events are accessible to all Mavericks.

In the description of each event, we have provided an email address for the appropriate event coordinator to assist with accommodations. 

Service Animals

Certified service animals are permitted in the Libraries. We may exclude any animal, including a service animal, from the facility when that animal's behavior poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others, or when its behavior creates a disruption.

Therapy Dogs

We host a monthly event called Doggy Days that allows members of the Maverick community to spend time with therapy dogs at UTA Libraries. Follow us on social media or check our events calendar to register for upcoming sessions.

We adhere to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) of the World Wide Web Consortium when generating content for our websites and social media channels, including:

  1. All images must have alternative text.
  2. All videos must have captions.
  3. Colors used must meet at least AA color contrast requirements.
  4. Headings used must follow a logical hierarchy.

Texas Disability History Collection

The Texas Disability History Collection emphasizes the pioneering role played by a racially and ethnically diverse cast of Texan disability rights activists, many of whom attended or have worked at the University of Texas at Arlington, in fighting for equal access to education, work, union membership, public transit, and sports. The collection was developed and published in 2017 and was awarded the Society of American Archivists’ Diversity Award for that year.

Advocates for Disability and Accessibility Committee (ADAC)

ADAC was established in May 2020 to advocate for UTA Libraries’ disabled users and staff. Former committee chair, Alexandra Pirkle, delivered two panel presentations about disability justice and awareness, which can be viewed at the links below.

  • Social Change Conference: “Disabled” Is Not a Four-Letter Word: A Reflection on Disability and Strategies for Accessibility
  • Open Access Week: Open to Disability: The Role of Open Access in a Disabled Higher Education Experience

ADAC also developed a document exploring the evolution of language around disability, including (but not limited to): the history of harmful terms, identity- vs. person-first language, and “nonverbal” vs. “non-speaking.”

Campus Resources

Student Access and Resource Center: The SAR Center provides services, in the form of academic accommodations, to students with all types of disabilities. Their website provides contact information for students to reach out to accessibility specialists o begin the process of accommodation support.

Electronic and Information Resources Accessibility: The EIR Accessibility team works every day to ensure that UTA’s Electronic and Information Resources are accessible to everyone, including those with disabilities. The EIR website provides a plethora of resources for staff, faculty, students, and visitors to make their electronic content accessible, from Word documents to PDFs to adding alternative text to images.

Disability Studies Minor: The interdisciplinary Minor in Disability Studies explores the experiences of disabled people—one of the largest minorities in the United States and worldwide—as well as the ways in which conceptions and representations of disability and “the normal” have shaped human experiences more generally. Learn more about the program on their website.

Adaptive Athletics: The Adaptive Athletics program assists any disabled students who would like to train for or compete in any adapted sport as well as “allies,” or non-disabled students want to work with our members to help adapted athletes at UTA represent and achieve their sport and fitness goals. Learn more about the program and how to get involved on their website.

Online Resources

Subtitle Horse: A free, browser-based video captioning program.

WebAim Color Contrast Checker: A free, browser-based color contrast checker that provides a pass-fail grade for WCAG AA and AAA.

Siteimprove Chrome Extension: A free extension that allows you to easily check the accessibility of any web page directly in Google Chrome. With this tool, you can immediately identify issues based on the latest Accessibility Conformance Testing rules and receive instant feedback and recommendations.

Writing Good Alt Text from Harvard University: This article gives fantastic examples of writing alt text in various contexts.