Thanks to modern building regulations, designs for new buildings now include accessible features by default. The wheelchair ramp isn’t added to the blueprints as a bonus—it’s built into the plans from the start. But what about online spaces? Digital accessibility is just as important, with the internet connecting us across all aspects of our lives in work, education, and play.
Gale’s approach to accessibility goes beyond simple compliance. It’s not a box for the Gale Accessibility Council to tick, but a core value reflected in our tagline “Gale, here for everyone.”
We recently caught up with Kristin Mallegg, business product manager, to hear about her experience with the Accessibility Council, and why accessibility is so important to her.
Kristin Mallegg’s Accessibility Journey
I began my accessibility journey around eight years ago, first as a content strategist in editorial, leading Gale’s Content Accessibility team to improve the accessibility of proprietary reference content. When I moved to product management, I stepped up to help address database issues and advocate for a proactive approach to database accessibility.
In that time, I’ve watched the Gale Accessibility Council enthusiastically take up the work of weaving accessibility into the very fabric of Gale’s design philosophy, creating databases that don’t simply accommodate, but actively anticipate the diverse needs of all users.
One of the first orders of business for the Accessibility Council was to overhaul Gale’s public-facing information. We turned to ASPIRE, the verification service for accessibility statements, to help us provide clear messaging for our customers and end-users.
Gale’s director of product management for global subscriptions Matt Kibble was key to this process. He highlighted that it was “a real team effort” to pull everything together in one place: contact information, the process for requesting accessible formats, details of how to use our platform with assistive technologies, our roadmap for future improvements, and links to useful documents.
“ASPIRE provided very helpful resources on how to make this information clear and comprehensible,” Matt says. “It was a pleasure to work with them—and very gratifying to be awarded a 100% Gold ASPIRE rating.”
True Accessibility Requires a Team Effort
Because accessibility affects every area of Gale, the Accessibility Council comprises members of the product team, user experience (UX), technology, marketing, content, training, and program management.
“It’s a great team to be involved in,” Matt says. “Everyone is genuinely passionate and enthused about making positive changes for users with specific needs.”
We cover a lot of ground in our monthly meetings, starting with progress checks against the accessibility roadmap based on priority goals related to the Deque Accessibility Audit. This focused approach has allowed us to prioritize improvements to our platform, including recent efforts to migrate the Chatham House Online Archive from its legacy platform to our modern, more accessible interface and make major updates to the ReadSpeaker text-to-speech tool.
Other improvements we’re planning to deliver in 2024 include:
- Integrating the translate feature into the screen reader flow
- Standardizing labels to facilitate navigation, provide important cues and instructions, and increase understanding of forms and controls
- Improving navigation on our In Context home pages
- Improving person and works search, image viewer, and date limiters
In addition to the Gale Accessibility Council’s internal collaboration, we seek feedback from colleagues outside the team.
Lourdes Mena, marketing manager for Gale Latin America, has found that the Open Dyslexic font helps her read more easily and comfortably and makes her feel “taken into account.”
“That’s why, in the trainings I run, I emphasize with librarians how these tools support people like me who struggle with a learning disability that is not visible,” Lourdes explains.
Guiding Gale into an Equitable, Accessible Future
To wrap up, I want to leave you with a story that Matt shared when asked what makes him proud to work on the Accessibility Council:
“One of my best friends has severe visual impairment. I remember very well how, as a student in the early 90s, he relied on the tools that were available then, such as talking books provided by the RNIB [Royal National Institute of Blind People] and a camera with monitor which allowed him to read print books using zoom and color-switching features. His parents would even record some of his course books for him on tape! So it’s gratifying for me to think of how the work we do now on eBooks and digital platforms would make life so much easier for students like him.”
Despite progress in the realm of accessibility, our journey is ongoing. At Gale, we intend to continuously improve our platform toward an intuitive user experience that is inherently accessible to all learners.
To accomplish that, we look to our users for insights into how we can better implement and advocate for equity through accessibility. If you have any feedback or inquiries, including requests for accessible versions of documents, please contact [email protected]. A member of our Accessibility Council will follow up within three business days to discuss how we can best meet your needs.
Meet the Team
Seth Cayley has worked in academic publishing for 20 years at companies including Blackwell, Wiley, Oxford University Press, and Gale. Seth has a particular interest in the digital humanities and is passionate about widening the usage of both primary sources and digital tools in the classroom.
Carolyn Swift-Muschott, head of technology, has over 15 years of experience in the publishing and education technology space. She has a keen and very personal interest in accessibility since her own son has disabilities that require accommodations for the hard of hearing. Carolyn actively encourages technology team involvement in Accessibility Council initiatives and is most excited about ways in which AI could unleash new approaches to accessibility.
Kyle Stewart joined Gale as an intern 13 years ago and now manages the user experience team. Kyle has been evangelizing accessibility and working to improve the user experience of Gale’s products for users of all abilities. His current interests include machine learning, archery, and Russian literature.
Matt Kibble has been working in digital product management for more than 20 years, working at ProQuest and Bloomsbury Publishing before coming to Gale. At Bloomsbury, he helped set up an accessibility working party, ensured that the product team were trained in best practice for user-centred and accessible web design, and presented at the UKSG conference in 2021 on the challenges involved in making digital platforms accessible.
Kristin Mallegg has worked in academic publishing for over 25 years. She was a founding member of Gale’s Content Accessibility Team and works closely with our accessibility partners and users to continuously improve the Gale database experience for everyone.
Stacey Zusy has been with Gale for two and a half years and about 10 years total within publishing and/or educational technology. Prior to that, she worked in the classroom for about five years as an educator. Stacey considers herself a lifelong learner, so much so that she decided to go back for her M. Ed in learning design & technology in 2020. Her goal within the Accessibility Council is to support Gale with their mission of truly being “Here for everyone,” helping product teams shift towards taking more of a proactive approach in designing for accessibility.
Jess Ludwig has helped publishing and media organizations create digital products for more than 10 years. She is director of product management, Digital Humanities at Gale where she leads the global digital platform strategy for Gale Primary Sources and Gale Digital Scholar Lab, with an emphasis on innovation, sustainability, and, above all, user needs.
Katie Holland has been with Gale for two years. Prior to joining the team, she completed her MA in speech-language pathology and gained valuable experience working with students in public education. Katie is enthusiastic about her role in the Accessibility Council, where she focuses on ensuring our resources effectively support both teachers and students and meet the diverse needs of all learners.
Bria Cole has been an associate product manager at Gale since April 2022, bringing with her a four-year background in higher education, where she championed accessibility and inclusivity in web design. Bria actively contributes to Gale’s Accessibility Council, ensuring that all users can seamlessly access and benefit from the diverse literary resources offered. She is currently focused on literature projects and prioritizes accessible enhancements to create an inclusive research experience for all.
Cara Suriyamongkol has been at Cengage Group for eight years in total and a UX designer at Gale for two of those years, working primarily on Gale’s academic and international products. She is a continuous learner about web accessibility and how to make educational technology more equitable, and strongly believes accessibility improvements help all users.