Course Reserves Accessibility Information
Course Reserves is an area within Canvas that provides access to course materials from the Northwestern Library. These include readings and streaming media. An instructor uses the Course Reserves tab in their Canvas course to request reserve items. Students access these items through the same area. Course Reserves is also known as Ares and is provided by Atlas Systems.
Affected Users
People with physical or vision disabilities, or possibly learning disabilities who use alternate input sources or use assistive software such as screen readers would be most affected by the issues detailed below.
Known Accessibility Barriers
For both students and faculty, the Ares course reserves systems has issues with default text size. Course Reserves also lacks meaningful alt text and a meaningful content structure. This includes issues with heading structure and form field labels.
While the pages can be navigated via keyboard only, the issues identified may make the use of assistive tools such as screen readers difficult or impossible to navigate the menus, use dropdowns, or access the reserve items.
Alternate Access and Accomodations
Students: If a student is unable to access the course materials via Course Reserves, they will need to share the issue with their instructor. The instructor or TA will be responsible for providing an alternate version of the reserve item(s).
Faculty: If instructors are unable to reserve materials via the request form, the library’s circulation department will assist them in completing the requests. Library staff can be contacted via circulation@northwestern.edu or e-reserve@northwestern.edu.
Additional Support
If these workarounds are not sufficient to provide access for a specific individual, accommodations may be necessary. To address accommodation needs:
• For student(s), contact AccessibleNU at accessiblenu@northwestern.edu
• For faculty, staff, or the general public, contact the Office of Equity at accommodations@northwestern.edu