ArchivesSpace Accessibility

This page gathers the IT Subcommittee's resources and reviews of the accessibility of Lyrasis's ArchivesSpace. This page will be updated as new information is available or further reviews are conducted.

Accessibility Overview

In general, ArchivesSpace is generally accessible in the public instance and backend operability. Lyrasis shows a strong commitment to the accessibility of their product, including having a Deque accessibility audit in 2021. Some things were identified through our testing, especially around the Rapid Data Entry and Reordering Content. These issues have been reported through the support ticket system.

However, installing plug-ins or changing the color scheme of your local install of ASpace may introduce accessibility errors. You should do an accessibility check of your own site after installs or color changes. Some of the common issues are around color contrast as well as losing the H1 header on the pages.

General Information

• Most recent VPAT (includes feedback from Deque review)
• Accessibility page from Lyrasis
• Use Shift + ? to bring up the Keyboard shortcuts. These shortcuts were developed primarily for ASpace users than for keyboard accessibility.
• Community-created plug-in that adds more keyboard shortcuts
• ArchivesSpace Sandbox: fully functional version of the most current release of ArchivesSpace. Any information added to this site will be regularly deleted.

Known Accessibility Issues

Zoom Usability

On the Admin side, usability of the site becomes difficult above 200% zoom. 150% zoom seems to be the sweet spot. You may need to adjust the size of font in your browser or adjust your overall screen resolution in order to find what works best for you.

Keyboard Shortcuts

To bring us the keyboard shortcuts, you must use Shift + ?. This may interfere with other shortcuts on your screen reader, especially NVDA. You may need to adjust what is mapped to the shortcut in your screen reader.

We've also sent in a request to have more information on the live site about the keyboard shortcuts. Unless you specifically look for them, it's hard to find what the keyboard shortcut is to bring up the keyboard shortcuts. There is also no list of keyboard shortcuts posted on the Accessibility page.

Rapid Data Entry

This is a known issue that Lyrasis has been working on. In record creation, the option for rapid data entry is difficult to navigate with a screen reader. The column headings aren't very intuitive, and in order to close the popup window, you have a tab about 30 times. ESC doesn't close the popup window. The error messages aren't navigable with a screen reader, though sometimes they are verbalized while tabbing through the form. It's difficult to get them to repeat if you accidentally skip over them. There are some color contrast concerns around the red error text on the grey background.

For screen reader users, it is suggested that you use the spreadsheet templates for batch loading, as the RDE is not very "rapid."

Reorder Mode

This is an issue known to Lyrasis. Reorder mode technically works with a screen reader, but it's not intuitive; once you highlight the item you want to move, you need to use the arrow keys to go back to the MOVE button. Once you activate the Move button, several options will appear depending on where the item is on the screen. "Move Into" doesn't work at all with a keyboard, but "Up" and "Down" do work. There is nothing to indicate that the program has accomplished the move, so you have to go down to double check it actually happened (it doesn't always work).

If you are using your keyboard to navigate but not using a screen reader, you will have no audio feedback or highlights to indicate that you've navigated to the MOVE button. It still works, but you have no idea of knowing where you are at on the page due to the lack of highlights.

• Back to main Digital Accessibility Group page.