If you have PDFs with low accessibility scores in your Blackboard course shell, you can easily improve their accessibility scores by creating a “library reference.” If your article is available in University Libraries, this technique will increase your PDFs accessibility score to 100%.

(No permalink? No problem. We also have instructions for adding a library reference without a permalink.)

Add a Library Reference

Screenshot showing a poor accessibility score on a PDF

The red accessibility meter icon indicates a low accessibility score.

  1. In Blackboard, click your PDF’s accessibility meter icon to open the file’s Accessibility score.
  2. Click How to tag a PDF to begin the process.
  3. Step 1 will ask “Can you get ahold of an editable version of this file?” Click No.
  4. Step 2 will ask “Can you provide a bibliographic reference instead?” Click Yes.
  5. Copy the title of the PDF.
  6. In a separate browser tab, visit the University Libraries page and search for the article using OneSearch.
  7. If you find the article, click its title in the search results. This will take you to a page for just that article:Search results in OneSearch showing an article titled "A Brief History of Artificial Intelligence."
  8. In the Send to section of the article’s OneSearch page, click the Permalink icon, then click the Copy the Permalink to Clipboard button:
  9. Return to Blackboard, paste the permalink into the URL field, then scroll down and click Add reference.

Once you’ve completed these steps for your PDF, its accessibility score will jump to 100%.