The National Library of Wales (also referred to in this document as ’us’, ‘we’, ‘our’, ‘the Library’) is committed to ensuring digital accessibility for all.
This statement covers all our websites.
The National Library of Wales is committed to improving accessibility across all our websites, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) describe how to make our websites as accessible as possible. The guidelines have 3 levels of accessibility (A, AA and AAA).
We're working towards meeting and maintaining Level AA standards for all our websites.
We have tested each of our websites, identifying issues to resolve.
We used 2 tools, usage dependent on type of site:
Most of our sites are at least partially AA compliant, however some sites have significant issues, including Level A issues.
Significant technical consolidation work now offers a consistent experience to users across some of our most popular websites (eg Welsh Newspapers, Welsh Journals etc).
The headers and footers of these websites will be AA compliant from the week ending 2 October 2020.
Significant work has been undertaken over the last 6 months on the content of the Library's main website (www.library.wales) and our Library blog (blog.library.wales). This work includes ensuring alt text for images, ensuring link text is instructive, clear formatting of content etc)
There are parts of our websites that are not fully accessible.
Parts of our sites that are not fully accessible include:
Over the coming weeks we will be turning our attention to resolving issues with our main website, blog and Welsh Newspapers website.
Work undertaken for the Welsh Newspapers website will be applied to our other core sites based on the same core functionality, see list of sites below for further details.
In addition to the general themes discussed in ‘How accessible are our websites?’, the following is a list of issues we need to improve upon as a priority:
*Many sites will have these resolved week ending 25th September 2020.
Work has not been started on the compliance of the following websites due to the fact that they are being considered for archiving.
All relevant websites will be archived and switched off by 23 September 2021.
An outside specialist firm will be retained to assist with ongoing work, and to run final compliance testing using the following:
We will update our internal guidelines to ensure electronically published content meets Level AA standards.
When our ongoing work is completed, you should expect to be able to do things such as:
This list explains what we don’t currently plan to fix.
Disproportionate burden:
Many of our sites have downloadable files, PDFs for example. Updating outdated documents is a disproportionate burden. Any documents that are replaced will be compliant
Outside of the scope of accessibility regulations:
We welcome feedback or comments which help us improve the accessibility of our websites.
The list of issues in this statement is not exhaustive, so you're welcome to conatct our Enquiries Service to discuss any specific problems or requirements.
Likewise, if you'd like to make a complaint, you're welcome to contact our Enquiries Service.
If you are unhappy with how we’ve responded to your complaint, please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
| Site | WCAG 2.1 Compliant | Serious Issues |
|---|---|---|
| Papurau Newydd Cymru / Welsh Newspapers | A (Partial); AA (Partial) | Some elements have insufficient colour contrast; Lack of accessible form names/labels; Incorrect/missing ARIA roles for forms |
| Cylchgronau Cymru / Welsh Journals | A (Partial); AA (Partial) | Some elements have insufficient colour contrast; Lack of accessible form names/labels; Incorrect/missing ARIA roles for forms |
| Chwilio Archifau Cymru / Archives Wales Search (currently under redevelopment) | A (Partial); AA (Partial) | Some elements have insufficient colour contrast; Lack of accessible form names/labels; Incorrect/missing ARIA roles for forms |
| Mapiau Degwm Cymru / Welsh Tithe Maps | A (Partial); AA (Partial) | Some elements have insufficient colour contrast; Lack of accessible form names/labels; Incorrect/missing ARIA roles for forms; Multiple static elements with the same id attribute |
| Cymru 1914 | A (Partial); AA (Partial) | Some elements have insufficient colour contrast; Lack of accessible form names/labels; Incorrect/missing ARIA roles for forms; Multiple static elements with the same id attribute |
| Y Bywgraffiadur Cymreig / Dictionary of Welsh Biography | A (Partial); AA (Partial) | Some elements have insufficient colour contrast; Lack of accessible form names/labels |
| Site | WCAG 2.1 Compliant | Serious Issues |
|---|---|---|
| Papurau Newydd Cymru / Welsh Newspapers | A (Partial); AA (Partial) | Some buttons lack discernible text; Some links lack discernible text; Insufficient colour contrast on filter values; Lack of accessible form names/labels; No keyboard access to refinement filters (facets) |
| Cylchgronau Cymru / Welsh Journals | A (Partial); AA (Partial) | Some buttons lack discernible text; Some links lack discernible text; Insufficient colour contrast on filter values; Lack of accessible form names/labels; No keyboard access to refinement filters (facets) |
| Chwilio Archifau Cymru / Archives Wales Search (currently under redevelopment) | A (Partial); AA (Partial) | Some buttons lack discernible text; Some links lack discernible text; Insufficient colour contrast on filter values; Lack of accessible form names/labels; No keyboard access to refinement filters (facets) |
| Mapiau Degwm Cymru / Welsh Tithe Maps | A (Partial); AA (Partial) | Some buttons lack discernible text; Some links lack discernible text; Insufficient colour contrast on filter values; Lack of accessible form names/labels; No keyboard access to refinement filters (facets); Maps are currently inaccessible * We are not legally required to make these maps accessible but our long-term plan is to do so |
| Cymru 1914 | A (Partial); AA (Partial) | Some images lack alternative text; Some links lack discernible text; Insufficient colour contrast on filter values; Lack of accessible form names/labels |
| Y Bywgraffiadur Cymreig / Dictionary of Welsh Biography | A (Partial); AA (Partial) | Incorrect / missing ARIA roles for forms; IDs are not unique (“Display Options” menu); Some buttons lack discernible text; List item does not have a parent list element, or element role (“list”) |
This schedule is subject to change; dates are subject to change.
This service is currently offline as we are undertaking re-development work to ensure we comply with Cyber Essentials Plus. This includes significant work such as upgrading our infrastructure, namely ElasticSearch to version 7.9.
The Library uses some third party systems to deliver functionality and services. We do our best to ensure our implementations are accessibility compliant. However we cannot at this time guarantee WCAG2.1 AA compliance as, in most cases, we are reliant on the third party achieving compliance. Not all third parties are obliged to publish their own statements.
The list below summarises third party systems.
| Name | Role | Link to Accessibility Statement/Plan | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| AtoM | Archive Catalogue | N/A | Largely compliant but with colour contrast issues. Work ongoing |
| Cookie Control | Tracking & Analytics (GDPR Compliance) | N/A | Some issues, resolution expected Q1 2021 |
| PayPal | Online payments | Accessibility Summary | High compliance, ongoing work |
| Primo | Resource Catalogue | Accessiblity Statment | Partially compliant. Work ongoing |
| Question Point | Support Chat Widget | N/A | Currently unavailable (Dec 2020) |
| Smart Survey | Questionnaire | Accessibility Summary | Survey is compliant |
| Shopify | Online shop | Accessibility Plan | Full AA compliance expected Q1 2021 |
| TicketSource | Event booking | N/A | Issues with in-page navigation and colour-contrast |
| Transpay | Online payments | N/A | No documentation available |
| Universal Viewer | Digital resource display | Accessibility Statement | Some issues using keyboard, in-page navigation, and motion animations |
| Wordpress | Blogging | Accessibility Plan | AA compliant with minor issues |
We are not responsible for functionality as we did not pay or develop this ourselves. However Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube all have ongoing accessibility compliance programs.
Websites which are not updated and are not needed for live services are exempt from accessibility regulations.
Maps are currently exempt from regulations unless they convey required information, in which case we can provide this information in an accessible format on request.
If you require an accessible version of content, have any suggestion or complaints, you're welcome to contact our Enquiries Service.
This statement was last updated 14 January 2021.
