Accessibility Statement

The University of South Dakota Special Collections: Preservation, Discovery & Research division of the University Libraries are committed to ensuring digital accessibility for all readers, researchers, and community members. We continuously strive to improve the user experience for everyone and apply the relevant accessibility standards to our blog platform.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) define 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.

​

The Reading Room @ USD aims to conform with WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards.

Accessibility of this blog relies on the following technologies to work with the particular combination of web browser and any assistive technologies or plugins installed on your computer:

• HTML

• WAI-ARIA

• CSS

• JavaScript

Known Accessibility Limitations & Archival Content Context

While we work hard to ensure the blog platform itself is accessible, the unique historical and archival nature of our content presents specific limitations:

• Handwritten and Historical Documents: Many of our posts feature digitized primary sources, such as historical diaries, logbooks, and handwritten ledgers (e.g., the Cuthbert DuCharme Trading Post Ledger). These items cannot be read perfectly by automated screen-reading software.

  • Our Solution: We are actively working to provide text transcriptions for historical documents. We invite public collaboration on platforms like FromThePage to accelerate our transcription efforts.

• Historical Media and Photographs: Some older images, maps, or scanned documents may have inherent visual degradation, fading, or low contrast due to their age and physical condition. We endeavor to provide descriptive alternative text (alt text) for all featured images.

• Third-Party Embeds: The blog may occasionally utilize external tools, media players, or widgets for maps and archival discovery that are outside our direct development control.

If you find an accessibility issue on the site, or if you require further assistance, you are welcome to Contact Us.

We welcome your feedback on the accessibility of The Reading Room @ USD. If you encounter accessibility barriers, find an image missing descriptive alt text, or require a transcription of a historical document in an alternative format, please let us know.