How Howard County Library System Is Building Long-Term Accessibility Capacity Across Its Digital Content Portfolio

The Howard County Library System (HCLS) serves a diverse Maryland community through multiple library branches, digital services, and a large public-facing website.

Following updated ADA Title II accessibility requirements, HCLS sought a partner capable of auditing its digital content environment, identifying accessibility risks, remediating noncompliant materials, and helping staff build long-term accessibility practices.

Word Wizards was selected to provide website accessibility auditing, document remediation, staff training, and strategic accessibility consulting.

Results & Impact

• Conducted a comprehensive accessibility audit across the HCLS digital environment, identifying more than 1,400 web pages in need of accessibility updates.
• Remedied critical PDF compliance gaps, requiring accessibility review for more than 211 PDFs.
• Launched staff training focused on accessible document and web content creation.
• Created a sustainable accessibility improvement roadmap aligned with ADA Title II requirements.

The Challenge

Like many public library systems, HCLS operates with a lean internal technology team responsible for managing both infrastructure and public-facing digital services.

Initial estimates significantly understated the size of the organization’s digital content inventory. While the library initially estimated approximately 168 pages and fewer than 100 PDFs, a full crawl revealed a much larger compliance footprint including archived blog posts, newsletters, event materials, and downloadable documents. Further, all documents which the client believed they had already addressed were truly non-compliant due to an education gap in their staff and stakeholders. 

The library needed more than a technical audit. Staff required practical guidance on what accessibility compliance meant operationally and how to prevent future accessibility failures as new content continued to be published. That’s where Word Wizard stepped in. 

The Solution

Word Wizards conducted a comprehensive accessibility audit of hclibrary.org using specialized scanning and discovery tools to identify pages, PDFs, and linked content requiring review.

The engagement included:

• Website accessibility auditing
• PDF and document analysis
• Accessibility remediation
• Staff accessibility training
• Strategic consulting and prioritization guidance

Sample PDF analysis identified accessibility gaps, including missing semantic tags and reading structure issues. Word Wizards then partnered with HCLS staff to help prioritize remediation efforts based on public visibility, user impact, and compliance considerations.

Client Spotlight

A key outcome of the engagement was the discovery of the true scope of the library’s accessibility obligations, and a realization that their internal staff was not technically trained to fully remediate content for compliance.

To solve this critical issue, Word Wizards developed practical staff training programs covering accessible document authoring, for Word, PDF, and InDesign including optimization of export practices, compliant template development, and basic accessibility evaluation methods to validate or test compliance.

This approach empowered the library to reduce future remediation efforts, while actively addressing compliance gaps in existing content.

Implementation & Delivery Approach

The project combined discovery, remediation, training, and long-term planning into a single operational framework.

Word Wizards worked closely with HCLS stakeholders to translate technical accessibility requirements into practical publishing workflows that staff could maintain internally over time.

The engagement remains active as remediation and training efforts continue.

Why It Matters for Government Agencies and Public Libraries

Many public institutions underestimate the scale of their digital accessibility obligations because they believe content is already compliant but they lack the remediation, validation, and testing methodologies required to meet legal standards.

This engagement demonstrates the importance of a holistic approach to accessibility, combining easy-to-deploy automated auditing tools with remediation, staff education, and strategic planning to build a sustainable model for long-term compliance.