StarPlus Accessibility Statement - June 2025

Scope and Ownership

This accessibility statement applies to the University of Sheffield Library StarPlus discovery platform (https://find.sheffield.ac.uk). The University of Sheffield and The University Library run other websites and platforms and these have their own accessibility statements are are not covered here.  Equally, third party content sites (for example, online books and journals) that are linked to from StarPlus are not covered by this accessibility statement.  The Help Chat functionality also belongs to a separate system (Springshare LibChat) and its accessibility is managed separately.

Responsibility for the StarPlus discovery platform sits with the Library Digital Services team within The University Library. If you wish to get in contact please email us: library@sheffield.ac.uk

In this accessibility statement we refer to browser plugins and other tools that may make your experience of web content more comfortable or productive. These suggestions are provided in good faith from reputable sources but please note that plugins and software are used at your own risk. The University of Sheffield is not responsible for any issues arising from the use of tools or plugins over which they have no influence or control. Plugin suggestions are for the Chrome browser but similar (or identical) plugins exist for other browsers.

Third Party Systems and Content

The core of StarPlus runs on a product called Primo VE supplied by Ex Libris, part of Clarivate™. Primo VE is a library discovery service which is a powerful search tool provided by libraries to enable users, such as students and academics to search and discover a wide range of library resources from a single interface. These resources can include books, e-books, journals, articles, databases, multimedia items, and more.

Ex Libris’ notes on accessibility for Primo VE can  be found here. Clarivate™ state that Primo has been designed to comply with internationally accepted web standards and guidelines in order to make it as accessible to as many people as possible. Clarivate™ also note that they have used W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG2.1) as their guide to developing the platform and that they constantly review their platform annually based on external audits and customer feedback.

StarPlus has been customised from the plain Primo VE supplied by Ex Libris and therefore this statement applies over any Ex Libris documentation.

Help chat functionality is provided by Springshare LibAnswers. Springshare’s statement about accessibility can be found here. The University Library has excluded LibAnswers from the scope of this statement..

Some of the links to content are provided by Third Iron’s LibKey Links service.  These links have been included within testing but not the content that they link to.

StarPlus, as a discovery service, provides onward links to many content platforms.  Each of these have their own accessibility statements and are not included within the scope of this statement.

Using the StarPlus Platform

The pages are intended to reflow to fit the resolution and orientation of your device.  Pages are responsive up to 200% using browser zoom and when enlarging the default text size.

Magnifying content

On a laptop/PC browser:

• You can magnify text by increasing the default font size in your browser settings (or with browser plugins – for example A+ Font SizeChangerLite for Chrome). If you use Chrome, Settings > Appearance > Custom Fonts allows you to increase the minimum size of the font which aids readability on most of the site.  There are a few options on hte detailed record page that do not display adequately if you use this setting.
• Or you can use the inbuilt browser zoom function – CTRL + (Windows) or CMD + (Mac).
• Using a mix of both techniques can give fine-tuned viewing experiences.

On a mobile device:

• Get magnification and reflow by changing the browser default font size and default display size in the accessibility settings menu

Personalising colours

Pages have been designed so that users should be able to change font size and colours and are designed to be high contrast.  It has been tested on Mozilla Firefox with the Firefox Accessibility Tooling.

Navigation

All platform pages can be accessed easily by keyboard. There are different ways to navigate the site. You can:

• use the provided menu structures,
• search for content, and
• refine the search

Pressing the tab key allows you to cycle through interactive elements on the page. The space bar will activate the current page element, and press return to submit a search.

In a menu or select box, arrow keys can move between elements of a menu. The Esc key can take you out of the full details view or other detailed views within the site.

There are some issues surrounding the focus state identification across the platform (see Technical Information section below for more details).

The platform tries to use a logical semantic structure to all pages so that content is as meaningful to users of assistive technologies as possible. Users can benefit by:

• using browser plugins like HeadingsMap to swiftly navigate a menu of headings
• using screen reader functionality to browse by heading level

StarPlus uses a pseudo-consistent page structure wherever possible and provides a "Skip link" to allow repetitive navigable elements (e.g. the site menu) to be avoided.

All parts of the website, including menus and interactive resources can be navigated using a keyboard using keystrokes like Tab, Enter, Escape and the Arrow keys. The tab order is logical, though the cursor enters the search box after a page loads so that the top menu will come last when using the tab key. The currently focused item is highlighted for keyboard users.

Resources for adjusting your laptop or phone

You can find useful guidance on adjusting your laptop or phone to suit your needs on these resources: MyComputerMyWay or Scope guidance on phone accessibility features.

Listening to content

Most of the page content can be accessed by text-to-speech tools, including:

• browser-based plugins such as Selection Reader for Chrome
• clipboard readers such as Orato and the ATBar
• commercial text-to-speech tools

Exceptions – where known – are noted in the Non-accessible content section.

More on enhancing your experience

You can explore some of our recommendations for tools that can make your experience better. These include:

• screen readers and magnifiers
• text converters
• reading and text-to-speech (read aloud) software
• mind mapping and notetaking
• voice recognition (speech-to-text) software
• accessible furniture and equipment

Technical Information About this Website’s Accessibility

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

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 – AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

We have checked the site with the browser accessibility tools and external sites, including Siteimprove and accessibilitychecker.org tools.

StarPlus is expected to render satisfactorily down to a 360 pixels wide window.

Known Limitations

On some pages a heading level may not exist.  This is not fixable in the current version of the software and our suppliers are aware of it.  Navigating between the search results and the refine options is awkward without a mouse, although it is possible.

All of the content should be reachable on the StarPlus website and we have endeavoured to facilitate this as much as possible within the limits of the software.

Resizing the browser window may result in layout / page flow issues, further changes to the size should resolve this, reloading the page will reset the view.

Reporting Accessibility Problems with this Website

If you have reported a problem with our website or asked for an alternative format and you are not happy with our response, please contact us by email, phone, chat or in person (see below). This will help us improve our systems.

If you are still not satisfied then you can contact The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No.2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Contact Details

You may contact the Library by email, chat, phone or in-person.

Email is library@sheffield.ac.uk

Telephone: +44 114 222 7200 (Monday - Friday 10am - 4pm)

Chat: https://libraryhelp.shef.ac.uk/chat/widget/16f6eaa078105b4007390a061b9702b4 

In person:

Western Bank Library, Western Bank, University of Sheffield, S10 2TN

Information Commons, 44 Leavygreave Road, Sheffield, S3 7RD (for members of The University of Sheffield only)

Date of Review

This review was conducted in June 2025 and will be revised when updates are made to StarPlus.

Preparation of this Accessibility Statement

Testing with automated checkers and users was carried out during April to June 2025 against the WCAG 2.2 AA standard.  The automated tools are listed above in the Technical Information section.