By Corinne on January 16, 2026
Here at Springshare, January is Accessibility Month and we're sharing a new blog post focused on accessibility each week! In case you missed it, read our first installment about getting your website ready for upcoming accessibility deadlines. Today, let’s dive into how you can increase your knowledge of accessibility practices with our Springshare Training sessions.
Springshare's Approach to Accessibility
Your Springshare products, including LibGuides, LibAnswers, and LibCal, are fully accessible out of the box. Our Voluntary Product Accessibility Templates (VPATs) are available in the Springshare Lounge if you ever need them for compliance. You'll also find a brand-new one for LibMaps there!
That said, the accessibility features that are provided by Springshare cannot account for the content that you add to your guides, FAQs, and LibCal events. This is where we have to work together to ensure that your patrons have a welcoming and inclusive online experience!
Keep Learning 🤓
When it comes to making your guides, FAQs, and other Springshare content accessible, there are guidelines you can follow. However, to the uninitiated, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) can seem complicated and full of hard-to-understand jargon.
It's essential for anyone creating content in your site to know the basics of accessibility, so we’ve developed a comprehensive training series that walks you through the WCAG standards and demystifies everything – translating these guidelines into simple, easy-to-remember practices.
Accessibility in Action
Here’s one great example: If you've heard about accessibility, you probably know that you need alt text for images. Alt text (alternative text) provides a substitute for images for users who can't see them, such as those using screen readers due to visual impairments, or when images fail to load. Seems straightforward, right?
But what you write for alt text is dependent on where you’re using it, why the image is present on the page, and whether or not it serves a function, such as linking to another page. There are so many possibilities! The same image on three different pages might use three different phrases for alt text and they could all be correct, in context. One of our all-time favorite accessibility tools is the Alt Text Decision Tree. It is made by the W3C, an international nonprofit dedicated to accessibility. The decision tree gives step-by-step instructions on how to evaluate your image in the context of your page.
Springy Training to the Rescue
The Alt Text Decision Tree is just one of the many tools that we cover in our Accessibility Series for LibGuides. In each session, we’ll see tools like these in action and cover examples of how to use these free tools as you are creating and editing guides. You can watch the recordings of past sessions anytime, or join us for our upcoming live series, kicking off on January 27 and continuing each Tuesday at 2pm ET through February. Bonus: We've got a new session diving into accessibility for LibConnect Pro on Wednesday, February 25!
In addition, these resources and recordings are available 24/7:
- Accessibility for LibAnswers
- Accessibility for LibWizard
- All Accessibility Training Resources
- Springshare's Accessibility Statement
Jen and Cate, your Springy Trainers, can't wait to see you in one of our upcoming live training sessions. We hope you'll join us!
Curious about what else is coming from Springshare Training in 2026? Keep an eye on our Training Calendar and subscribe to our Training Newsletter for monthly updates delivered straight to your email inbox.