Madison College Libraries and Accessibility: Credo Reference

The following is information from Credo Reference and is available in the Credo Reference Help documentation.

Accessibility

Compliance

ADA Compliance Statement:

Credo's Reference and Education products are compliant with Section 508 of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Users with disabilities are encouraged to use screen readers or other third party tools to assist with use of Credo's interfaces.

WCAG

The Credo Online Reference Service platform is "Compliant with Exceptions" to Level AA of the Web Content Accessibility Guideline version 2.0. Click here for Credo's WCAG Statement of Conformance. 

Voluntary Product Accessibility Template

In October 2017, we completed an internal accessibility evaluation of the Credo Online Reference Service platform using the HTML CodeSniffer tool and several screenreader tools, and created Credo’s VPAT. Click here for Credo’s Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) (PDF link). Please note that this applies only to the Credo Online Reference Service Platform. 

Our InfoLit Courseware has also been evaluated for accessibility. Click here for the InfoLit Courseware's Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) (PDF link). 

Accessibility Statement

It is a priority for Credo that our system is accessible to all types of users, and we have designed Credo Online Reference Service to be used by people with disabilities.

Credo is committed to compliance with disability aids, such as screen readers. Credo Online Reference Service has hyperlinks specifically placed to enable users with screen readers to skip common navigation elements of our pages and jump to a page's main content (visible only to Screenreader tools).

For more information on using our platform, see "Tips for Using Credo with a Screenreader" 

Tips for using Credo with a screenreader

To download these instructions as a PDF, click here: Credo Screenreader Tips - Downloadable PDF.

Keyboard Navigation

Tab - move forward through each link or form element
Shift-Tab - move backwards through the links
Spacebar - toggles the check when focus is on a checkbox
Up and down arrows - change selection when focus is on a selection list
Left and right arrows - move back and forth between radio buttons in a radio button group

Navigating the Site

The first link on any page is Skip to Main Content. This skips navigation elements in the header and takes you to the page’s main content.

• Home Page - skips to the main heading on the page, “Background Information to Start Your Research.” Hit tab once to get to the search bar from here.
• Search Results - skips to the top of the search results list
• Entry Page - skips to the entry text

The second link on any page is Skip to Search Bar. This skips navigation elements in the header and takes you directly to the search bar.

Searching

To find the search bar, start at the top of the page. The first link is Skip to Main Content. Hit tab once and the next link is Skip to Search Bar. Use this link to skip to the search bar.

• The screen reader will read: “Search Credo.”
• To search, type your search phrase and hit enter.

Browsing Search Results

Use the first link on the page, Skip to Main Content, to skip to the search results. This will skip to the first entry in the search results.

All search results use an <h4> header. The title of the entry is read first. Hit the enter button to open the entry, or hit tab to continue browsing the search results.

After the title of each entry (<h4>), there is a Quick View Button and a Save Button.

Quick View will open a brief blurb from the entry.
Save will add the article to your saved results folder for the length of your session

After the Save button of some entries is a thumbnail image. Tab past this to get to the next search result.

Entry Page Controls

All Credo entries have a built-in ReadSpeaker that will read the entry to the user. If your browser supports access keys, you can use ACCESS KEY + L to skip to the ReadSpeaker button.

• Firefox: ALT+SHIFT+L
• Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera: ALT + L

You can also have your screenreader read the text to you. Select the Skip to Main Content link, which is the first link on the page, to skip directly to the entry text.

To access other entry controls, tab through the header navigation from the top of the page or shift-tab backwards from the entry text to find the entry control options.

• Back to Search Results - returns to the search results page
• Listen Button - Will read the content of the entry with our built-in Readspeaker
• Cite - generates a citation for the entry
• Print/Export - Print and export options
• Email - email the entry to yourself or others
• Embed Code - Generates an embed code for faculty and librarians.
• Translate - Translates the entry content using Google Translate
• Save - Saves the entry to your Saved Results folder for the length of your session

Access Credo Reference through the link on the library databases list or the link below.

If viewing off-campus, enter your username and password when prompted.