Helda – Accessibility Statement

Helda Digital Repository – Accessibility Statement, updated 1.11.2024.

The web address for Helda is https://helda.helsinki.fi

Helda is the open digital repository of the University of Helsinki. It contains data produced at the University of Helsinki and in Helda’s client organisations. Data from several sources are continuously stored in Helda.

Helda was established on 1st of January 2010.

Following significant changes, Helda was updated on 1st of March 2020.

In addition to containing material produced at the University of Helsinki, Helda offers repository services to various client organisations.

Helda’s client organisations include Geological Survey of Finland, the Hanken School of Economics, the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela), the Finnish Food Authority, the Finnish Society of Forest Science, the Finnish Environment Institute, the Finnish Meteorological Institute, the Library of the Labour Movement and the National Land Survey of Finland.

Accessibility legislation does not apply to content stored in the repository prior to 23 September 2018 because the content is not updated nor is it needed for a case pending with public authorities. The collections of most client organisations include such content.

The repository contains self-archived content, that is, content published in the service by users or other third parties. Such content is not produced, funded or supervised by the service provider.

The organisations using Helda are responsible for the accessibility of the publications in the repository and have themselves assessed the accessibility of their content.

Helsinki University Library has assessed the accessibility of the University of Helsinki’s publications.

Helsinki University Library is responsible for the accessibility of the user interface. Helsinki University Library has assessed the accessibility of the user interface.

This statement was created on the 14th of September 2020, and it has been updated on the 14th of February 2022.

The website is not yet fully compliant with all the requirements.

Accessibility of publications

Accessibility deficiencies have been identified regarding files stored in Helda. These have been itemised according to client organisation as follows:

University of Helsinki

Helda contains files published after 23 September 2018. Almost all of them are PDF files.

The accessibility requirements do not apply to contents from third parties. Research articles published elsewhere are not part of the materials produced by the University of Helsinki.

The following deficiencies have been noted in some of the files uploaded after 23rd September 2018:

· Styles that would accurately describe the document structure have not been applied in all publications. Therefore, screen readers might not scan the document correctly.

· Table formatting has been used in some publications in a way, which screen readers do not necessarily convert.

· In some publications, the images and tables do not have an alt text, and/or the contents of the image or table are not described in the text.

· In some publications, the language of the publication is not defined in the file.

· In some publications, there might be problems in detecting colour contrasts.

· In some publications, such as doctoral dissertations or Master’s theses, there might be attachments from third parties, such as research articles published elsewhere by publishers.

· There are a small number of digitized documents, in which text recognition has not been applied

If the material you need to access does not meet the accessibility requirements, please contact us at helda-admin@helsinki.fi.

 

Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela)

Kela’s research publications and rehabilitation development publications are not fully accessible. The colour contrasts and table structures of some publications do not meet the accessibility requirements, and some graphs lack text alternatives. These shortcomings were scheduled to be addressed in 2020 in publications that had appeared on or after 23 September 2018.

Kela’s statistical publications are not fully accessible. Accessible and/or alternative publication formats will be made available in stages in the coming years.

To request data in an accessible format, please contact julkaisut@kela.fi.

 

Accessibility of the user interface

The following accessibility deficiencies have been identified in the Helda user interface.

Detectable: textual responses to images and link images 

Inaccessible content and its shortcomings

Images and link images that do not contain textual responses and decorative images that contain an incorrect textual response are present on the page. Accessibility requirements not met 1.1.1 Non-textual content

Detectable: contrast and use of colour 

Inaccessible content and its shortcomings 

Adequate contrast between text and background colour on the site is not met at all points on the site. Problems are encountered in areas such as the breadcrumb navigation and the cookie window. There are links on the site where colour is used as the only visual means of representing a function.

 Accessibility requirements not met 

1.4.3 Contrast (minimum) 

1.4.1 Use of colour

Detectable: Headings

Inaccessible content and its shortcomings 

The page contains headings that do not follow a consistent hierarchy of headings. Accessibility requirements not met

 1.3.1 Information and relationships

Detectable: Resizing text 

Inaccessible content and its shortcomings 

There is text on the page that, if enlarged to 200%, causes a loss of content or functionality.

Accessibility requirements that are not met 

1.4.4 Resizing text

Manageable: keyboard access and visible alignment 

Inaccessible content and its shortcomings 

Elements and buttons appear on the page that are not accessible to keyboard users or the keyboard alignment indicator is not visible. Accessibility requirements not met 2.1.1 Keyboard 2.4.7 Visible alignment

Manageable: Alignment order 

Inaccessible content and its shortcomings 

Content appears on the page with an inconsistent alignment order. These include the cookie window and the community listing on the home page. 

Accessibility requirements that are not met 

2.4.3 Targeting order

Manageable: link purpose Inaccessible 

content and its shortcomings 

There are links on the page whose purpose cannot be determined from the link text or link context. 

Accessibility requirements not met 

2.4.4 Link purpose (in context)

Understandable: Language of the text 

Inaccessible content and its shortcomings 

The page contains text fragments whose language is different from the language of the page and whose language cannot be determined programmatically. Accessibility requirements not met 3.1.2 Language of the components

Understandable: Labels Inaccessible 

content and its shortcomings 

The page contains text fields that lack a label. 

Accessibility requirements not met 

3.3.2 Labels or instructions

Understand: targeting Unreachable 

content and its shortcomings 

A filter element appears on the search page to filter search results by year, and targeting it causes a contextual change. 

Accessibility requirements not met 

3.2.1 Targeting

Via an online form https://helda.helsinki.fi/feedback

Via email helda-admin@helsinki.fi

Supervisory authority

If you notice accessibility issues on the website, please first give feedback to the Helda administrator via the above channels. It may take up to 14 days to receive an answer. If you are dissatisfied with the answer or do not receive an answer within two weeks, you may file a complaint with the Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland. The agency website has detailed instructions (in Finnish and Swedish only) on how to file a complaint and how the issue will be handled.

Contact information of the supervisory authority

Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland Accessibility supervision unit www.saavutettavuusvaatimukset.fi saavutettavuus(at)avi.fi phone +358 29501 6000 (switchboard)

We are committed to improving the accessibility of digital services

The accessibility of Helda will be improved as rapidly as possible. The aim is to address the most serious problems related to the accessibility of the user interface by the end of 2022.

In addition, University of Helsinki students will be supported and instructed in creating accessible thesis files to ensure that the theses published in Helda are accessible.

We offer support to users for whom the digital service is not accessible

Helsinki University Library supports the use of Helda. The library’s customer service provides advice on the use of Helda. For contact details, please see https://www.helsinki.fi/en/helsinki-university-library/contact-library/customer…. If necessary, Helda’s administrator can also give advice on using Helda. The administrator’s email address is helda-admin@helsinki.fi