Accessibility Statement - Explore the British Library

Scope

The British Library is committed to making its websites accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

The British Library operates a number of websites, subsites, and online services (“Sites”).

This accessibility statement supplements our main Accessibility Statement, and applies to the following Site:

How accessible this website is

We know some parts of this Site are not fully accessible:

  • No page structure is specified
  • Some iFrame elements are unspecified
  • Browser zoom functionality is disabled
  • Some same-page links are broken
  • Some pages have Javascript Jump Menus
  • Accesskeys are present
  • Some links are empty or unnamed
  • No language is specified on some pages
  • Multiple form labels are associated with the same input field
  • Some form labels are orphaned
  • Some form labels are missing

Compliance status

This website is partially compliant with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Non-accessible content

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons: 

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations  

  • No page structure is programmatically specified, meaning that users may not be able to adapt the presentation of the pages to their needs, and users of assistive technologies may not receive the content in logical order. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships).
  • Some iFrame elements are unspecified, meaning that users may not be able to adapt the presentation of the pages to their needs, and users of assistive technologies may not receive the content in logical order. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships). 
  • Broswer zoom functionality is disabled, meaning that users with moderate visual impairment who do not use assistive technologies may not be able to discern the content. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.4 (Resize Text).
  • Some same-page links are broken, meaning that the keyboard can not be used to navigate through the page sections. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1 (Keyboard).
  • Javascript Jump Menus may trigger on focus change when using keyboard navigation, meaning that keyboard users may struggle to navigate the menus and pages without being forced from the page they are reading. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1.1 (Keyboard).
  • Accesskeys are present, meaning that programatically specified shortcut keys may conflict assistive technologies. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.2 (Bypass Blocks).
  • Some links are 'empty' or unnamed or are poorly specified, meaning that users of assistive technologies will not be able to understand the destination of the links, or be able to navigate them easily. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4 (Link Purpose in Context). 

  • No language is programmatically specified for some pages, meaning that users of assistive technologies may not be able to render the pages into human speech. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.1.1 (Language of Page).

  • The site's internal search functionality has multiple form labels associated with a single input field, meaning that users of assistive technologies or with cognitive impairments may not be able to discern the functionality of the fields. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.3.2 (Labels or Instructions).
  • Some pages have orphaned form labels, meaning that users of assistive technologies may not be presented with content in a logical order, or may be led to expect content that is not present. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.3.2 (Labels or Instructions).
  • Some form labels are missing, meaning that users of assistive technologies or with cognitive impairments may not be able to discern the functionality of the fields. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.3.2 (Labels or Instructions).

We plan to resolve these issues by upgrading to a modern version of the Primo interface before December 2023.

How we tested this website

This website was last tested on 20 August 2020. A full review of the site was carried out by the British Library using Wave and Google Measure.