Student Accessibility Services (SAS) at OCADU provides support to students with temporary and permanent disabilities. After an initial intake appointment with an Accessibility Advisors, students have access to accommodations to support them with their course work, including Alternate Formats.
Telephone: 416-977-6000 ext. 339
Email: sas@ocadu.ca
For general inquiries, please contact newformats@ocadu.ca
Requests for alternate formats are forwarded to the library directly from Student Accessibility Services (SAS). We are happy to help with any questions along the way.
For OCADU Faculty and Staff, requests must be forwarded to the library from People & Culture (formerly Human Resources).
This guide summarizes the accessibility features for OCAD U's most frequently visited online resources. Most pages in the guide are listed by vendor/publisher and include highlights from each resource's accessibility statements along with a brief summary of limitations that may render each resource inaccessible.
This overview of OCADU's online resources is not meant as an exhaustive list of accessibility features or a complete WCAG compliance review. Instead we aim to capture a snapshot of each platform's functionality and limitations for library users to refer to. This information is reviewed periodically and was last updated on May 22, 2025.
Each resource's content is made available to users through a variety of license agreements, which may impact the availability of certain formats.
If you have questions or feedback about the content of this subject guide contact newformats@ocadu.ca. More information about OCAD U Library's alternate formats service can be found in the Alternate Formats subject guide.
In order for an online resource to be considered accessible, its content should be available to all users. For university research purposes, this means that users with active enrollment should be able to use their institution's login credentials to find relevant materials (e.g. ebooks, journal articles, videos, etc.) in the format that best suits their needs.
Web Accessibility Initiative first published and recommended the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) in 1999 for online content (Bureau of Internet Accessibility, 2019). These guidelines outline what is required for a piece of online content (e.g. video, webpage, eBook, etc.) to be considered accessible. WCAG standards are divided into Level A and Level AA compliance. Online content formatted according to Level AA compliance standards are the most accessible. As of October 5, 2023, WCAG 2.2 is the most up to date version of these standards.
How to Meet WCAG (Quick Reference) - Web Accessibility Initiative (Updated December 12, 2024).
Each publisher refers to established accessibility standards to ensure access to their online resources, either by developing their own evaluation process or partnering with a third party to evaluate the accessibility of their databases and other online resources.
DAISY's Inclusive Publishing Partners include Taylor & Francis, EBSCO, Elsevier, Google, and Microsoft. The DAISY consortium publishes the full list of Inclusive Publisher Partners on their website.