When a PDF Cannot or Should Not be Remediated

Overview

Yuja Panorama has the capability of scanning and performing some inline remediation for PDFs. However, some PDFs are:

• Difficult or impossible to remediate in order to meet accessibility standards.
• Pedagogically valuable to present in its original format despite accessibility issues

Common examples include historical documents, scans of unique print documents, art, etc.

In such cases it may be acceptable to present the original document alongside a Conforming Alternative Version (CAV) that does meet accessibility standards.

How to Present your CAV

It is important that a user who might require the CAV not have to work hard to find it. It should truly be presented alongside the original. Here are two suggestions for how to present the CAV in Canvas:

1. (Recommended) Include both versions on the same Canvas Page
2. Include both items in the same Canvas Module (optional: indent the CAV item under the original item)

Additional Recommendations

1. It may also be prudent to Disable the Alternative Formats, as provided by Panorama, for the original file. If Panorama’s Optical Character Recognition (OCR) function is unable to accurately read the original PDF, it may product alternative formats that are garbled, incomplete and/or inaccurate.
2. Ignore the impact of the original document on your course’s accessibility score. The score is not what matters; students’ access is.

Free Sources for Alternative Versions of Texts

There may be a more accessible digital version of your text available through the Henry Whittemore Library's collections or through the Interlibrary Loan Service. Below are some additional free, public resources for digitized materials, most of which will be more accessible than a standard photocopier scan.

• Project Gutenberg  provides access to over 75,000 free eBooks, including many classics and public domain texts. These books are available in various accessible formats. 
• Librivox offers a vast collection of free public domain audiobooks, read by volunteers from around the world. 
• Internet Archive Texts: Millions of digitized books and documents. Accessibility varies considerably, but many works include OCR-generated text that is more accessible than a scanned PDF alone.
• HathiTrust Digital Library: a Major academic library consortium. Contains millions of scanned books.
• Standard Ebooks: One of the best sources for accessible literature. Produces carefully proofread and professionally formatted EPUB versions of public-domain works.
• Avalon Project (Yale Law School): Historical legal, diplomatic, and governmental documents. Includes treaties, constitutions, presidential documents, and foundational texts.
• Library of Congress Digital Collections: Primary sources, manuscripts, maps, photographs, speeches, and historical documents. Often includes transcriptions alongside scans.
• Perseus Digital Library: Classical Greek and Roman texts, translations, and historical sources.
• Internet Sacred Text Archive: Religious, mythological, and folklore texts.
• GovInfo: Official U.S. government publications. Accessible versions of many federal documents.
• National Constitution Center Interactive Constitution: Accessible presentation of the U.S. Constitution and related materials.
• National Archives Founders Online: Searchable correspondence and papers of key early American figures. Excellent source for U.S. history courses.
• Fordham Internet History Sourcebooks Project: Extensive collection of transcribed primary-source documents. Covers ancient, medieval, modern, African, Asian, and global history.