Last Updated on June 14, 2024, 12:15 pm ET
May 16 is Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), an opportunity for libraries and others to take action to improve digital access and inclusion. This Global Accessibility Awareness Day, learn more about Educational Materials Made Accessible (EMMA), a project to improve access to materials for students with print disabilities. Read on for more information, including how your institution can enroll.
What Is EMMA?
Educational Materials Made Accessible (EMMA) is a repository of remediated versions of copyrighted works shared by libraries across the US and Canada. Because the same materials are taught across many campuses, sharing remediated versions of assigned texts can really help to reduce the duplication of effort by disability services staff and improve their turnaround time in serving students. Staff in libraries and disability services offices can use EMMA to access materials on behalf of a person with a print disability.
How Was EMMA Developed?
EMMA was developed as part of the FRAME project (Federating Repositories of Accessible Materials for Higher Education), a collaboration among academic libraries, repositories, technologists, and disability services offices, supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the US Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). At the beginning of this project, ARL convened legal experts in January 2019 for a meeting on “the law and accessible texts,” which resulted in a white paper of the same name. The white paper clearly documents that copyright law in the US does not prevent the sharing of remediated files, a common misperception that can lead to barriers for students who need accessible works.
How Can My Library Contribute?
ARL libraries can be key partners in uploading remediated materials once a semester or quarter. There may also be a role for interlibrary loan, and perhaps other connections as well. About 25 ARL members already participate in EMMA.
How Can My Institution Enroll?
It’s easy to enroll in EMMA! First, check to see if your campus disability service has already enrolled your university. If not, your institution’s disability services office can submit the EMMA Enrollment Request form with the name of your organization, any commonly used abbreviation for its name, and the first name, last name, and email address of an individual who serves student needs. After you submit the enrollment form a human will review it and EMMA will process it, whereupon a manager account will be created in EMMA for the submitter, and you will receive a welcome message with information about logging in as well as a copy of EMMA’s guidelines for appropriate use. You will also be subscribed to the emma-users@virginia.edu email list, if you are not already.
Where Can I Learn More?
Learn more about EMMA at https://emma.uvacreate.virginia.edu/.
