Skip to main content
How University of Michigan Press translates "accessibility as a design principle" into continuing practice

How University of Michigan Press translates "accessibility as a design principle" into continuing practice

Recent updates reflect the press’s commitment to meet the European Accessibility Act (EAA) standards for both the web platform and ebook content

The University of Michigan Press is making accessibility enhancements to Fulcrum, the digital publishing platform developed by the University of Michigan Library and Press. Accessibility is a core value and design component of Fulcrum. As part of the ongoing development of Fulcrum, the press works to make the platform and its content inclusive, accessible, and usable for all readers. While recognizing that making ebooks and their platforms accessible to all, including print-disabled readers, is a constant work in process, we're trying to think beyond compliance deadlines to honor "accessibility" as a core value and design principle of all our work.

As of June 28th 2025 (the start of implementation of the European Accessibility Act), all ebooks on Fulcrum now have an “Accessibility Claims” tab on their book detail page. This will appear whether or not there is specific accessibility metadata for the title. If the metadata is available, readers will see it displayed following the W3C UX Guidelines for Displaying Accessibility Metadata 1.0 (and parts of the recently published 2.0 version). The goal is to provide transparency and help users understand the accessibility features available for each ebook.

Additionally, we are making it easier to request accessible versions of ebooks. If the metadata shows that a book isn’t screen reader friendly—or if there is no accessibility metadata at all—readers will see a button that lets them quickly request a file for remediation.

“Surfacing title-level accessibility information and simplifying the process of requesting accessible files has been in planning for multiple years. It is exciting to see this work become public and it will have meaningful impacts on many Fulcrum users and our publishing partners,” said Jon McGlone, Digital Product Design Engineer & Accessibility Specialist. “But we aren’t stopping there. We will continue to improve the accessibility of Fulcrum and its content because with each incremental step we make, the platform becomes better for everyone.”

“The accessibility updates to Fulcrum also benefit our expanding community of mission-driven partner publishers,” added Jason Colman, director of Michigan Publishing Services. “We continue to learn and improve together, building on the University of Michigan Press’s leadership in this space.”

Fulcrum aims to meet the latest WCAG 2 AA Standards (currently WCAG 2.2 AA) through developing a platform with infrastructure that meets web accessibility guidelines and includes accessibility features and creating and sharing resources that help publishers produce accessible content. We report Fulcrum's compliance with WCAG 2.2 and Section 508 in a Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT®) Version 2.5 INT and we report content compliance in collection specific VPATs.

The University of Michigan Press remains committed to ensuring its digital infrastructure meets evolving accessibility standards and continues to support open, equitable access to scholarship. For more on Fulcrum’s accessibility efforts, visit: https://www.fulcrum.org/accessibility