Hey Alastair,



Thanks for leading on this. I have filled in the survey. 



From my areas of responsibility, we have two large headaches. The first is our repository of scanned readings housed in the CLA Digital Content Store platform. Most if not all of our scans done in-house pre-2016 were not done to any standard or quality control guidelines, with no OCRing, no de-skewing of text, two physical pages digitised in landscape to a single PDF page, and so on. I've just opened up a channel with the CLA to inquire about what options might be available to do a bulk replacement without interfering with the links. 

https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A2=LIS-CLA-DCS;6db0f90c.1910



We have about 10,000 scanned readings that will probably need an overhaul.



Second is our exam paper repository. Up until 2016, we would receive printed versions in a huge box from our student services centre after exams had finished every year. Again these were scanned "flat" with no OCRing. After 2016 we received them electronically as Word or PDF files so I am not concerned about those. There are approximately 16,000 exam papers going back to 1994 which are in need of an overhaul.



You can improve a PDF using Abbyy FineReader software, but it's a manual / menial process. I think the best option for us will be to find a commercial company who can do this for us at scale. 



You mention suppliers who offer bulk remediation opportunities, has anyone used one in the past for such a task? I see a potential good business opportunity in advance of the accessibility deadline next September...



Thanks,



Kevin





Kevin O’Donovan

Library Acquisitions Manager

Content and Discovery Group

London School of Economics and Political Science

10 Portugal Street

London WC2A 2HD

Email: [log in to unmask] 

Tel: +44(0)20 7852 3683





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Date:    Tue, 29 Oct 2019 14:13:54 +0000

From:    Alistair McNaught <[log in to unmask]>

Subject: PDFs - Getting to grips with their accessibility and remediation potential - survey



Hi all



Apologies for cross posting but I'm aware PDFs are a real headache for many organisations with thousands in active use, created by people with different levels of expertise from different tools and workflows and often with significantly different levels of accessibility.

In order to know how best to tackle the issues - both in terms of training resources or remediation tools - we need to better understand the nature of the problem.



The Digital Accessibility Working Group are keen to collect data on PDF types and origins across the HE, FE and public sector.



What we need YOU to do for us

Could you please



  *   encourage as many people as possible in your organisation to fill in this short (5 questions) questionnaire,

  *   pass it on to any other mailing lists or communities of practice you know about (I have no inroads into Marketing departments but they are key players in this area)

  *   try to get people (including yourself!) to respond by Fri 8th November at the latest - so the end of next week.



What WE'LL do for you

We'll collate the data and share back the main findings through these lists and social media, We'll use the findings to encourage relevant organisations (AbilityNet, Jisc, UCISA, ALT etc) to provide targeted training, We'll discuss the main findings with suppliers who offer bulk remediation opportunities, with the potential for running supplier showcases with those who best fit sector needs.



The first step is to get the data. Here's the PDF survey form<https://forms.gle/rHzX7AhhCJDQ3apY9> - or (if you're viewing in plain text) - https://forms.gle/rHzX7AhhCJDQ3apY9



Many thanks



Alistair





[Logo for Alistair McNaught. Training, consultancy, authoring and anything interesting or empowering for people.]



Alistair McNaught Consultancy Ltd

Email: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>

LinkedIn: https://tiny.cc/mcnaught

Mobile: 07599201611

Twitter: @alistairm





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