Site Accessibility

Michigan State University is committed to facilitating access to University instruction, communication, research, and business processes, while enhancing community building for the broadest possible audience. The University strives to employ principles of Universal Design and use the Web Accessibility Technical Guidelines (WA Technical Guidelines) and standards in the design, implementation, enhancement, and replacement of Web content and services. In doing so, MSU aims to improve access to both current and emerging technologies.

The MSU Libraries Web Services team is continually implementing changes to improve in the areas of accessible and universal design.

General Information

In the development of this website, we have worked towards adding a significant number of accessibility features. These features complement the use of assistive technologies and help make the site usable to the broadest possible audience, everyone from those who use assistive technologies to those with a low-end browser or computer.

For assistance with the content and function of this site or if you encounter any problems, please contact the Discovery Services at (517) 353-8700 or reachout@msu.edu.  Persons using assistive devices should contact the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities for assistive technology assistance.

Accessible Features in Drupal Content Management System (CMS)

If you rely on a screen reader or other assistive technology, you will be glad to know that we have built this site with Drupal, a content management system, to encourage and support the proper use of semantic markup. For example, you should be able to use headings reliably for page-level navigation.

The Web Services team has worked to identify and resolve accessibility barriers within the site. There have been many improvements to both the visitor and administrator sides of Drupal, especially:

  • Search engine form and presentation
  • Color contrast and intensity
  • Adding skip navigation to core themes
  • Image handling
  • Form labeling

Users of the JAWS screen reader: Please be aware that JAWS is designed to work best with Internet Explorer. If you are using JAWS but have selected to use another browser, JAWS may not be able to take advantage of the accessibility features provided within this application.

Note: Once you navigate outside of this site these accessibility features might not necessarily be implemented

Guidelines

Changing Text Sizes

This site CSS uses relative font sizes, compatible with the user-specified 'text size' option in visual browsers. If you need to change the text size in your web browser, we have the following tutorials:

Links and Images

  • Images used in this site include a descriptive 'ALT' attribute. Those images which are purely decorative or used for layout include a null 'ALT' attribute.

Tables

  • Screen reader table functions within screen readers may be used on this site. The tables are properly coded to take advantage these functions. Example: Using JAWS in Internet Explorer, use Control - ALT - Right Arrow to properly read a table with table headers.
  • Tables used in this site make use of proper headers.

MSU has updated its Web Accessibility Policy.

Visual Design

  • This site uses Cascading Style Sheets to control all of the presentation. Turning off the style sheet will affect the visual presentation and may affect the functionality of the site for some users.