When assigning journal articles and book chapters, accessibility often starts with where the content comes from. Increasingly, newer journal articles are “born‑digital,” meaning they are created digitally from the start rather than scanned from print. This generally results in cleaner text and better structure, while older articles may rely on OCR that makes text readable but often lacks the accuracy and underlying structure of a truly born‑digital document.

For PDFs of journal articles and book chapters, the best practice is almost always to link directly to the library resource instead of uploading a PDF. This approach supports accessibility now and can improve access over time.

Using Library Resources

When you link to a library‑provided resource, you give students access to more than just a static PDF.

Access to multiple formats

• Many library resources offer:
  • Native web (HTML) versions. Often the most accessible version of the content for screen readers.
  • Embedded readers with built‑in tools to support a variety of interactions with the content, including text-to-speech.
  • Downloadable PDFs.

Accessibility improves over time

• Vendors and publishers are actively adding accessibility features to their platforms.
• When you link to the resource, students benefit from these improvements automatically.
• When you upload a PDF, you freeze that content in time, including its accessibility limitations.

Downloaded PDFs may not be the most accessible version

• The PDF you download is not always the best version available.
• Even when the PDF is readable:
  • It may lack tags or be insufficiently tagged, making navigation difficult.
  • Reading order may be unclear.
• Linking allows students to choose the format that works best for them.

Simpson Library has put together a guide on best practices for linking students directly to a library resource:

What if the article or chapter did not come from the library?

If you obtain a PDF outside of library resources (for example, from a general web search, a colleague, or a personal copy), some additional checking is important.

Before remediating, consider:

• Is the same content available through the library?
• Is this the publisher’s version?
• Is there a web‑based version or a Word Doc that would be more accessible or easier to remediate?
• If the original is a poorly scanned document, can you make a new scan?
  • The library will support digitization requests for items in their collection. They are also working on guidance (that will be available next week) on how to create more accessible scans if you need to scan something from scratch.

In many cases, finding and linking to a more accessible version is faster and more effective than remediating a poor‑quality PDF. Simpson Librarians are happy to provide research assistance in finding more accessible content.

Checking a PDF in Panorama

If the journal article or book chapter is only available as a PDF and linking to another format is not an option, the next step is to run the file through the Panorama checker.

Panorama gives you a quick snapshot of the document’s accessibility and helps identify where there are barriers. Some key accessibility issues you should address in any PDF are:

• Ensuring there is searchable text (either born-digital content or OCR).
• Ensuring there are tags on the document and running auto-tagging if not present.
• Adding alt text to images in the PDF.

For more information and links to how to address the various issues the Panorama accessibility report raises see the following guide:

Important Note on Remediation of PDFs inside of Panorama

Panorama’s OCR and auto‑tagging tools can help identify issues, but they are not sufficient on their own to make a PDF fully accessible. OCR may misrecognize text, and auto‑tagging is less reliable for complex layouts, tables, images, or multi‑column content. In most cases, additional review and cleanup is still required.

We recognize that this level of remediation requires specialized training and skills that may not be feasible for all faculty at this time. We are continuing to develop workflows to support this work, including guidance on when outside assistance may be appropriate for more complex remediation. These processes and tools are still evolving. If a barrier to access is reported, faculty should contact the Title II Accessibility Team at t2access@umw.edu.

There is also an increasing expectation that faculty will complete initial accessibility review and some remediation before sharing PDFs with the Office of Disability Resources, allowing ODR support to focus on remaining barriers and meaningful access.

Next week will be providing further guidance about obtaining new scans of physical media.

Get Support 

If you have questions about creating accessible journal articles and book chapters you can: 

• Book an Accessibility Consultation 
• Send an e-mail to t2access@umw.edu