Dear lucky colleagues who are about to head south (or are already
there):

If you are going to ALA Midwinter, don't forget to ask vendors about the
accessibility of their products--specifically about compliance with the
W3C/WAI Guidelines or the Access Board Standards (Sect. 508, Rehab. Act
Amendments of 1998)? It is important that they hear
accessibility-related questions from as many librarians as possible.

Currently, I'm particularly concerned about two vendors:

1. Docutek, which appears to position itself as the dominant e-reserve
system provider and which just unveiled its latest version of its
Virtual Reference Librarian system. When I spoke to Docutek's regional
representative in November, the company had not yet undertaken
substantial efforts to make their products accessible.

Docutek's booth at ALA: #4939

2. Ingenta, which recently acquired Uncover and now offers electronic
access to over 5,000 full-text journals and a document delivery service
(via FAX and Ariel) involving over 26,000 publications. While the
company prides itself of providing "easy, unparalleled web-based access
to scholarly content," its representatives, at a video-conferenced
presentation to University of Wisconsin libraries last week, admitted
that their product is not "ADA compliant."

Ingenta's booth: #3313. Also, Ingenta offers an "overview seminar" on
Jan. 18, 4-5 pm, at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel on Canal Street.

Happy trails,

Axel 



********************
Axel Schmetzke, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Library
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
900 Reserve
Stevens Point, WI 54481
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Tel: 715-346-4658