FROM METADATA TO DISCOVERY: SURFACING ACCESSIBLE RESOURCES WITH PRIMO

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ORBIS Cascade Alliance  -- Accessibility Speaker Series 

March 31, 2026

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INTRODUCTIONS

Your Presenters

Teressa Keenan (she/her), University of Montana, Mansfield Library�Head, Collection and Metadata Services; Metadata Librarian & Accessibility Liaison

Help from: Shelley Ramberg, University of Montana, Mansfield Library, Alma/Primo VE Administrator

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Jacqueline Frank (she/her), Montana State University Library, �Instruction & Accessibility Librarian

Help from: Hannah McKelvey, Montana State University Library, Electronic Resources & Discovery Services Librarian

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Positionality Statements

• Jacqueline
• I come to accessibility work as a white, female librarian with a STEM background. My perspective is shaped by privilege, and by living and working alongside people with disabilities. I don’t have a disability myself, so I rely on continual learning, collaboration, and listening to the people who do.
• Teressa
• As a white female librarian with an interdisciplinary background, my view of accessibility is one of a complex issue requiring both scientific understanding, ethical consideration, and practical solutions. While I wear glasses and understand the impact of needing assistive technology for a specific task, I have not personally navigated the systemic barriers faced by individuals with permanent disabilities. I acknowledge that I view this topic through a lens of privilege and recognize my role as a learner and advocate rather than an expert by experience.

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Outline

• Our Background Experience
• What we are doing to improve
• Metadata & Accessibility Filters in Primo
• Accessibility Request Form
• How this helps compliance with ADA Title II
• Acknowledging challenges
• Discussion, Q&A

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OUR BACKGROUND EXPERIENCE

Background: Some of our experience working with students

• MSU
• Research consultations with blind & quadriplegic students (now graduated), students using a wheelchair, students with dyslexia, and others
• Remediation of materials (e.g. PDFs, video closed captions, transcription, etc.)
• UM
• Research consultation with blind student,
• Remediating E-Resources (PDFs), required readings for class 
• Finding captioned media for use by professors
• Known disadvantages include:
• lack of efficiency and extra time/work to do research
• Inability to easily skim materials to find what users need 

WHAT WE ARE DOING IN PRIMO TO IMPROVE

Background: How the project started

• Project was initiated and implemented by University of Montana
• Montana State University benefited because we are part of the TRAILS consortium
• Adding accessibility metadata to records in Alma.
• Configuring PrimoVE:
• Adding search filter, to use that metadata for search refinements and Display
• Adding link to Accessibility request form, for resources to be remediated on-demand

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Accessibility Metadata is...

• Information about how accessible or inaccessible a resource is
• Meant to be read by a computer and humans
•  Can provide information on:
• Accessibility features
• Accessibility hazards (if any)
• Accommodations for reading
• Can be found in:
• EPUB – OPF file contains a11y metadata
• ONIX – separate metadata file often used by publishers
• MARC records – separate metadata file used by most libraries

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MARC Fields

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• LDR – Coded information for the automation system*
• 007 – physical description (braille, large print)
• 008 – General Information*
• 385 - audience characteristics
• 341, 532 – accessibility content*

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• 041, 546 – Language information*
• 655 - genre, form
• 337 – media type
• 347 - digital file characteristics
• 511 – cast, performer
• 506 – restrictions on access

MARC 341 & 532 – Accessibility Content &�Note

Accessibility Content: 341

341 0_ $a auditory $b captions $2 sapdv�341 1_ $a textual $e braille $2 sapdv $3 container labels

Accessibility Note : 532

532 0_ $a Requires Daisy 3 software for access.

532 1_ $a Closed captions (feature film only). 

532 2_ $a Menu not navigable�532 8_ $a Warning: If you have a history of epilepsy or seizures, consult a doctor before use. Certain patterns may trigger seizures with no prior history.

PrimoVE Rules

• Facets, Search, Display  = controlled vocabularies & coded data fields
• Display only  = free text fields
• created in the NZ and distributed to the IZ
• Define & Configure local field
• Add new field to display
• Add new search index and facets
• Modify Labels
• Reindex

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Ongoing efforts

• New Materials:
• Establish expectations for recording accessibility metadata for staff
• Training
• Existing Records and OCLC
• Local fields
• Crosswalking, Alma Sets and Normalization rules
• Streaming Media and eBooks
• Limited to individual orders hosted on our platform

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Example

Example 2

Next Steps

• New and Existing Records
• Continue adding accessibility metadata to physical and digital item records when possible
• Continue manual clean-up of batch updated records as needed
• PrimoVE Display Improvements
• Subscription Resources

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How this helps �improve compliance with �Title II of the ADA

And the European Accessibility Act (EAA)

Title II of the ADA

• Helps align library discovery systems with WCAG 2.1 AA standards
• The minimum standards include proper labeling, structure, and alternatives for media.
• Exposing accessibility metadata and improving search/filter options in Primo interfaces helps meet these technical expectations.
• Reduces barriers
• Title II emphasizes eliminating barriers in web and mobile environments.
• Providing clearer pathways to accessible materials—and providing a built‑in remediation request option—helps meet the rule’s nondiscrimination and access‑to‑services expectations.
• Improves “effective communication” by making accessible formats discoverable
• The ADA Title II rule requires public entities to ensure web‑delivered information is accessible and usable by people with disabilities.
• Enhancing metadata so users can find large print, braille, captioned media, or other accessible formats directly supports this requirement.

Title II of the ADA, cont.

• Request option for alternative formats
• Creating a clearer pathway for users to request alternative formats is essential when content cannot meet WCAG standards or falls under exceptions (e.g., older materials).
• Including a remediation request link in Primo aligns with the rule’s provisions for reasonable modifications.
• Continual Improvement & Documented Progress Toward Compliance
• Title II does not expect instant perfection, but it does require ongoing, measurable progress toward meeting accessibility standards.
• Public entities must demonstrate good‑faith efforts, including documenting improvements, identifying remaining gaps, and outlining planned remediation steps.
• Enhancing Primo configuration and metadata work, and workflow development all function as demonstrable evidence that the library is actively moving toward full WCAG 2.1 AA alignment and continually improving accessibility across its systems.

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The European Accessibility Act (EAA)

• European Accessibility Act
• Most directly relates to section on E-books:
• ensuring that, when an e-book contains audio in addition to text, it then provides synchronized text and audio;
• ensuring that e-book digital files do not prevent assistive technology from operating properly;
• ensuring access to the content, the navigation of the file content and layout including dynamic layout, the provision of the structure, flexibility and choice in the presentation of the content;
• allowing alternative renditions of the content and its interoperability with a variety of assistive technologies, in such a way that it is perceivable, understandable, operable and robust;
• making them discoverable by providing information through metadata about their accessibility features;
• ensuring that digital rights management measures do not block accessibility features.

CHALLENGES

Challenges

• Stats – continue to be low, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t useful and worthwhile

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• Knowing if it’s really helping – anecdotally it is – Its helping librarians help faculty find resources to use for class
• Work is done at institution level, requires consortia buy in to make the changes (small issue, approval is easy to get so far, it just adds time to the process)

DISCUSSION �Q&A

Questions for the group:

• Built in tools to Primo - are others using these features & how are they working?
• Voice search, etc.
• What are others doing to surface their accessible materials?
• Physical materials are easy to update the metadata – what about eResources?
• Remediation requests – are your users currently able to request alternate formats for inaccessible materials? How do they request remediation?
• Can these features be continued in Primo NDE?
• What’s next? Ideas needed for next steps
• IFLA group: Accessibility Metadata Network - what other groups/resources are you aware of?

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THANK YOU!

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