Gale’s Platform Accessibility Policy 

Last updated: July 11, 2023 

Gale, here for everyone 

At Gale, we are committed to making our core platform universally accessible and user-friendly in conformance with:  

Full details of how Gale’s platforms comply with WCAG 2.1 and Section 508 criteria are available in the form of Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) documents.  

If you have any feedback or inquiries, including requests for accessible versions of documents, please contact [email protected]. 

 

Accessibility Features 

Gale’s platforms are designed to support users with visual, hearing, mobility or cognitive impairments, and any users accessing via keyboard-only inputs or assistive technologies. We employ ARIA (Accessibility for Rich Internet Applications) to enhance navigation, orientation and labelling for users of screen readers and other assistive technology. In the majority of cases, users are able to:  

  • Read articles in HTML text which supports re-sizing and reflowability. All documents in OneFile, In Context and Gale eBooks are available as HTML, as are most documents in Gale Literature and Gale Business Insights. 

  • Change font, font sizes, font spacing and color contrast, either via browser controls or via a dedicated toolbar which is available at the top of every HTML article. This feature applies changes to the article text only, and the chosen font size persists throughout the user’s session.  

  • Use the ‘Adjust Image’ feature in Gale Primary Sources to change the contrast or invert colours of document images 

  • Zoom in up to 200% using the browser zoom function without requiring horizontal scrolling 

  • Read OCR (Optical Character Recognition) text for the majority of Gale Primary Sources archives 

  • Use a keyboard to navigate the site without encountering keyboard traps 

  • Use a screen reader to access text, either via a third-party application or using the built-in Readspeaker functionality which is accessible in the article toolbar for all HTML articles 

  • Skip to main content to avoid repetitive links 

  • Read page titles which are consistent and descriptive, allowing users to immediately grasp what the contents of the page are  

  • Easily navigate the site using consistently tagged structural elements such as headings and ARIA regions to ensure correct reading order, and correctly named links 

  • Use predictive search (search assist) to see recommended search terms  

  • Use forms which have correct field labels and easily understandable error messages 

  • Download PDFs where available, with no Digital Rights Management restrictions on copying or printing functionality 

  • Access transcripts and closed captions of video and audio content. 

 

How Gale’s Platforms Are Tested 

Gale’s platforms have been tested using a combination of automation (using Deque System’s automated AXE tool) and manual testing, covering screen-reader accessibility, keyboard-only use, color contrast, color-blindness accessibility and other criteria stipulated by WCAG. Third-party specialist testers carry out manual testing, including testing by non-sighted users, using JAWS 2018, Non-Visual Desktop Access (NVDA) VoiceOver and Talkback on a range of the most widely used browsers and operating systems.  

 

Exceptions and Roadmap 

Gale has a proactive rolling program of accessibility compliance work, with dedicated Product, User Experience and Technology leads drawing on accessibility testing reports and feedback from libraries and users to identify and prioritise accessibility enhancements.  

Recent improvements to our platforms include:  

  • Migration of several databases from legacy platforms to our modern, more accessible interfaces, including Gale: Business Insights (Oct 2022), State Papers Online (Dec 2022), Early Arabic Printed Books (Mar 2023), British Literary Manuscripts Online (May 2023) and Archives of Latin American and Caribbean History, Sixteenth to Twentieth Century (formerly World Scholar: Latin America and the Caribbean, May 2023) 

  • Addition of OCR (Optical Character Recognition) text for older volumes of Gale Literature: Dictionary of Literary Biography and Gale Literature: Something About the Author 

 

Areas for further improvement: 

  • OCR text for Gale Primary Sources archives is of variable quality and does not include structured metadata and tagging. Some archives are lacking OCR.   

  • Licensed third-party content and older backfile titles contain images which lack alt text, and some PDFs do not have accessible text 

  • Videos from third parties which are hosted on external platforms may lack transcripts 

  • The video player does not provide synchronisation of transcripts 

  • Topic Finder, Highlights & Notes and other interactive features are not yet accessible to keyboard-only and screen-reader users. 

 

Cengage Group Accessibility Policy 

For information about Cengage textbooks and digital platforms, please see the Cengage Group Accessibility page.