The ARL-CARL Marrakesh Treaty Implementation project, including partners at the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, Cornell University, the University of Florida, and York University, has been working on the practical considerations of descriptive metadata for accessible works, and investigating supporting web services to extend the functionality of Library Services Platforms at our libraries.

“The work of implementing the Marrakesh Treaty positions the Task Force and the research library community to expand the boundaries and embrace the opportunity to add ‘accessible’ as an essential component of ‘open’”, says Task Force Chair, Victoria Owen. Consequently, libraries should extend our work in open access towards ensuring they are both open and accessible. Library and publisher OA platforms should be assessed for accessible outputs and enhance to become universally accessible (for example, see https://www.arl.org/blog/if-its-open-is-it-accessible/). This month’s talk with be with Judith Russell, Dean of University Libraries, University of Florida to discuss the above and engage with the OpenCon library community on this issue of accessibility and openness.