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TPF-5(442) Transportation Research and Connectivity Pooled Fund Study: 508/Accessibility

Getting Started

Transportation Research and Connectivity Pooled Fund Products

Webinar Training: Session 1 September 17, 2024 

Geared toward researchers new to Section 508 accessibility requirements, this session helps authors prepare a compliant report in Microsoft Word, and tackles the most common errors that occur when documents are converted from Word to PDF. View the presentation slides.

Webinar Training: Session 2 October 22, 2024 

For attendees of Session 1 and researchers who have some knowledge of Section 508 requirements, this session includes detailed discussion of accessibility practices as well as a question-and-answer segment. View the presentation slides.

 

Other Web-Based Training

Accessibility Training, Tools, and Events

Learn how you can make your agency’s electronic information and digital services accessible to everyone through online and video training, accessibility tools, and training events.

Accessibility in Microsoft Word

A series of YouTube videos from the Accessible Electronic Document Community of Practice (AED COP).

 

Accessibility Video Training

A short video that discusses Microsoft's built-in accessibility features.

 

 

Accessibility Training (e-learning modules)

Training videos from Minnesota DOT Digital Accessibility Coordinators.

Transportation Research and Connectivity Pooled Fund Guidance

Guidance for Transportation Librarians and Research Program Managers

This document provides a step-by-step guide to ensuring Word and Acrobat documents are 508-compliant.

 

 

Other Guidance

Create Accessible Digital Products

The Revised 508 Standards include not just IT tools and systems, but electronic content such as documents, web pages, presentations, social media content, blogs, and certain emails.​

Section 508 Compliance

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Library has created and compiled checklists and resources for authors and editorial staff to use when creating accessible documents.  

Create Accessible PDFs

Adobe shares its online guidance to creating PDFs that meet 508-accessibility standards.

IT Accessibility Laws and Policies

An online guide to the accessibility-related regulations governing public agencies' digital communications.

 

Policy & Management Playbooks

Guidance to help federal agencies improve management and delivery of accessible information and communication technology.

Creating and Verifying Compliant Documents

508-Compliant Research Report Template

Follow this template to ensure that research reports adhere to Section 508 guidelines. Each section of the report template includes instructions to aid authors in inserting report-specific content and meeting Section 508 accessibility requirements.

 

Guidance for Preparing 508-Compliant Research Reports

Instructions for using the 508-Compliant Research Report Template.

Section 508 Sample Contract Language for Research Compliance

This document highlights examples of possible practices to address Section 508 compliance in researcher contracts.

Test for Accessibility

An overview of testing methods and tools to ensure that websites, software, and electronic documents conform with the Section-508 standards.

Resources for Common Accessibility Concerns

Everything You Need to Know to Write Effective Alt Text

Microsoft's online guidance for writing alternative text.

 

Image Description Guidelines

A comprehensive resource for describing images effectively.

Contrast Checker

Use this online tool to determine whether there's sufficient contrast between your text and background colors. 

Colour Contrast Analyser

A free downloadable tool for checking color contrast.

Creating Accessible Tables

An overview of how and why to create accessible tables.

Common Adobe Accessibility Errors and How to Fix Them

This document from the New York City Public School system provides a review of some of the most frequent accessibility issues in Adobe, as well as solutions for addressing them. 

About the Pooled Fund

Transportation Research and Connectivity logo

 

The Transportation Research and Connectivity pooled fund study, TPF-5(442), is a consortium of state departments of transportation (DOTs) and other partners that supports the coordinated development of transportation libraries as well as research organizations without dedicated libraries. Study focus areas include communication and networking, digitization, research report accessibility, and developing online resource guides and a toolkit for non-librarians.


This Resource Guide was prepared by CTC & Associates LLC for the Transportation Research and Connectivity pooled fund study, TPF-5(442), under the guidance of the following members of the study's technical advisory committee:

This guide is a living document that is intended to be revised and updated to incorporate new resources. To suggest a resource for inclusion, please contact one of the committee members listed above.

Publication date: November 2024.