Accessibility Essentials: A 2025 NISO Training Series
Scope
Accessibility Essentials is a new 8-week training series that will empower attendees with actionable insights and practical guidance toward accessibility compliance for professionals in scholarly communications and publishing. Attendees will come away with an operational understanding of what it means to engage in accessible publishing and methods to ensure their organizations are prepared to achieve accessibility compliance. This seminar will cover upcoming regulatory changes and what is needed to avoid fines and expensive lawsuits; accessibility standards and best practices; and human-centered web design. From production to public relations, this seminar is critical for all information practitioners, content or product development experts, and scholarly communications professionals. Each week will focus on answering these questions:
- What is inclusive publishing and why do we care about accessibility?
- What are the repercussions for non-accessible content, services, other programs?
- What does an accessible or inclusive publishing program look like; what does it take to achieve?
- What does an inclusive web design program entail, and what methods or techniques are involved?
- What are the relevant standards for accessible publishing programs?
- How do we implement inclusive text-based content production?
- How do we implement inclusive multimedia content production?
- How do we develop inclusive publishing strategies, roadmaps, and budgets for the long term?
Course Duration and Dates
The series consists of eight (8) weekly segments, each lasting 90 minutes. Specific dates are:
- April 3, 10, 17, 24
- May 1, 8, 15, 22
Each session will be recorded and links to that archived recording will be disseminated to course registrants within 2 business days of the close of the specific session.
Training Facilitator
Lettie Y. Conrad, Product Experience Architect, LibLynx, and Part-Time Instructor, San José State’s School of Information

With more than 20 years’ experience in scholarly publishing and product design, Lettie brings human-centered methods to her work with technology and service providers. She is a dedicated information professional, passionately delivering inclusive innovations in research and publishing.
Lettie is driven by an interest in how scholarly communicate and manage their research information. In her 8 years as an independent researcher and consultant, Lettie contributes both commercial solutions and original research to the study of scholarly information experiences.
In her 10 years with SAGE Publishing, Lettie played a key role in establishing product management expertise and user-centered product lifecycles and market research routines. She was instrumental in launching user-centered web and mobile products, driving research and analysis that enabled evidence-based product management to maintain outstanding quality of SAGE platforms.
Currently, Lettie serves as Product Experience Architect for LibLynx, a part-time instructor in San José State’s School of Information, among other independent projects. In her spare time, Lettie is a Publications Committee member for the Association for Information Science & Technology and a ‘chef’ with the SSP’s Scholarly Kitchen blog. You can read more about Lettie on her LinkedIn and ORCID profiles.
Training Facilitator
Simon Holt, Senior Product Manager, Content Accessibility, Elsevier

Simon Holt is Head of Central Strategies, Content Acquisition at Elsevier. He is also Disability Confidence Manager for the organization, working to identify and remove barriers that prevent people with disabilities achieving their potential at work. He lives in Oxford, UK.
Guest Speakers
Confirmed guest speakers (others TBA) include: Will Awad, Digital Accessibility Consultant, iAccessDigital; Bridget Burke, Front-end Designer and Accessibility Expert, University of Michigan Libraries; Rachel Comerford, Senior Director of Accessibility Outreach and Communication, Macmillan Learning; Caroline Desrosiers, Founder & CEO, Scribely; Neil Gilstrap, Chief Technology Officer, Cadmore Media; Bill Kasdorf, Principal, Kasdorf & Associates, LLC, and Founding Partner, Publishing Technology Partners; Stephen Laverick, Senior Associate, Maverick Publishing Specialists; Bob Liu, User Experience Strategist, University of Arizona Libraries; Jack McElaney; Chief Revenue Officer, Microassist; Simon Mellins, Independent Digital Publishing Consultant and Accessibility Specialist, Simon Mellins Consulting; Beth Richard, Senior Publishing Editor, Institute of Development Studies; Stacy Scott, Head of Accessibility, Taylor & Francis; Leon Terner, Head of Multimedia, The Lancet Group; and Satyen Vora, Manager, Digital First Optimization, Elsevier.
Event Sessions
Thursday, April 3, 2025, Session One: Introductory seminar
Speakers
What is inclusive publishing and why do we care about accessibility?
We will kick off this seminar series by defining the key terms and concepts for digital accessibility and inclusive publishing.
Recommended Reading
Foundational materials
- Accessibility Fundamentals: W3C overview.
- Accessibility & Universal Design tutorial from CSUN.
- Web Accessibility Cookbook, O’Reilly (2024).
Best practice: Scholarly communications
- “Advancing Accessibility in Scholarly Publishing.” The Scholarly Kitchen, Mar. 2024.
- Advancing Digital Accessibility of Scientific and Technical Publications, a joint initiative sponsored by W3C, DAISY, and NISO.
Keeping current
- AbleNews from The Viscardi Center.
- iAcessDigital, consultancy (UK).
- Accessibility in the News from Jack McElany (Microassist).
- Accessibility Book Club on LinkedIn.
Experiences of disability
- “How do visually impaired people read” by Angela Piccolo, visually impaired designer.
- How web accessibility affects people in the real world (Silktide).
- POURing over your website: An introduction to digital accessibility (TEDx Talk).
- Screen reader demos from Marc Sutton with UCSF’s IT department
- W3C before and after demo sites -- and YouTube video using JAWS
Thursday, April 10, 2025, Session Two: Laws and regulations
Speaker
What are the repercussions for non-accessible content, services, other programs?
This module will focus on the regulatory space, addressing key court cases and legislation that define the legal ramifications of digital accessibility.
Recommended Reading
Global
- The Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled.
European Union
- European Accessibility Act
- Irish Act “European Union (Accessibility Requirements of Products and Services) Regulations 2023”
- “A guide to navigation the European Accessibility Act for online retailers, service providers and platforms” by Deirdre Kilroy, Bird & Bird, Jan. 2025.
- “Disproportionate burden: Not a blanket excuse for inaccessibility” by Will Awad, iAccessDigital, Jan. 2025.
- "Get on the right side of EAA compliance. Don’t risk shortcuts." Deque webinar, Dec. 2024.
United States
- Americans with Disabilities Act.
- Section 508.
- The Chafee Amendment (National Library Service)
- Equality Act of 1990 refers to the Equality Act 2010
Thursday, April 17, 2025, Session Three: Introduction to accessible publishing
Speakers
What does an accessible or inclusive publishing program look like; what does it take to achieve?
This module will guide us to a deeper level of understanding about accessible publishing and how to establish an accessible program in your organization.
Thursday, April 24, 2025, Session Four: Introduction to inclusive design
Speakers
What does an inclusive web design program entail, and what methods or techniques are involved?
In this module, Lettie and Bridget will introduce inclusive and human-centered design principles, and how they align with delivering accessible web design.
Thursday, May 1, 2025, Session Five: Standards seminar
Speaker
What are the relevant standards for accessible publishing programs?
In this module, Bill will provide an intensive session on the prevailing standards and guidelines for accessible publishing and inclusive design.
Thursday, May 8, 2025, Session Six: Accessible print/text-based production
Speakers
How do we implement inclusive text-based content production?
We will dive into the technical requirements and workflows for accessible publishing of text-intensive products and services.
Thursday, May 15, 2025, Session Seven: Accessible multimedia production
Speakers
How do we implement inclusive multimedia content production?
This module will dive into the technical requirements and workflows for accessible publishing of products and services with multimedia and special formats.
Thursday, May 22, 2025, Session Eight: Looking ahead
Speakers
How do we develop inclusive publishing strategies, roadmaps, and budgets for the long term?
We will conclude with a forward-looking module dedicated to planning accessibility programs and exploring the state of the art in accessible publishing.
Additional Information
Registration is non-transferable, and login via this Zoom link is exclusively accessible to the registered individual. As registrants, you can expect to receive a message containing your attendee sign-on credentials three business days prior to the scheduled Thursday session.
If you have not received your instructions by the day before an event, please contact NISO headquarters for assistance via email (nisohq@niso.org).
Registrants for an event may cancel participation and receive a refund (less $30.00) if the notice of cancellation is received at NISO HQ (nisohq@niso.org) one full week prior to the event date. If received less than 7 days before, no refund will be provided.
All events follow the NISO Code of Conduct. More information can be found here.
Broadcast Platform
NISO uses the Zoom platform for purposes of broadcasting our live events. Zoom provides apps for a variety of computing devices (tablets, laptops, etc.) To view the broadcast, you will need a device that supports the Zoom app. Attendees may also choose to listen just to audio on their phones. Sign-on credentials include the necessary dial-in numbers, if that is your preference. Once notified of their availability, recordings may be viewed from the Zoom platform.
Event Dates
–
Registration
To sign up: See our registration page
Fees
Members:
- Early bird registration: Register by 11:59 pm EDT March 17 and pay a discounted rate of USD $750.00.
- Register on or after March 18 and pay USD $850.00
Non-Members:
- Early bird registration: Register by 11:59 pm EDT March 17 and pay a discounted rate of USD $825.00
- Register on or after March 18 and pay USD $925.00
Group Rates:
- Tier One
- 3-5 individuals - 17% discount
- Tier Two
- 6-9 individuals - 25% discount
- Tier Three
- 10+ individuals - 30% discount
Global Access Rate:
Applies to libraries in countries defined by the World Bank as low-income (GNI per capita of $1,085 or less in 2021), lower middle-income (GNI of $1,086 - $4,255) or upper middle-income ($4,256 - $13,205).
- $100 USD
Please note that it is not possible to register for individual program segments or lectures.
Additionally, please register using an institutional/work email.
Location
Educational events are online programs. NISO uses the Zoom platform for purposes of broadcasting our live events. Zoom provides apps for a variety of computing devices (tablets, laptops, etc.) To view the broadcast, you will need a device that supports the Zoom app.
Attendees may also choose to listen just to audio on their phones. Sign-on credentials include the necessary dial-in numbers, if that is your preference.
Registrants receive sign-on instructions three days prior to the scheduled virtual session If you have not received your instructions by the day before a session please contact NISO headquarters for assistance via email (nisohq@niso.org).
This is an 8-week series, with each weekly segment having a duration of 90 minutes. It is a virtual event. NISO uses the Zoom platform to deliver our virtual events. Please check your system in advance to make sure it meets Zoom (US) requirements.