Undergraduate Digital Accessibility Assistant

The Library Digital Accessibility Assistant contributes to the UVA Library's Digital Accessibility Student Team by performing production work in one of two focus areas: captioning and transcription of digital media, or remediation of PDF and other document files.

Assistants work within a small sub-team led by a Graduate Library Digital Accessibility Lead, who provides day-to-day direction and quality review. Overall program supervision is provided by the Library's Digital Accessibility Specialist. This is a production-focused role for students who are detail-oriented, reliable, and committed to digital equity and information access. Specific responsibilities vary by track.

Primary Responsibilities

Production Work (approximately 80-85% of effort)

Assistants perform high-volume, standards-compliant production work in their assigned track. Track-specific responsibilities will be provided in the position supplement. Across both tracks, all Assistants are expected to:

• Follow established workflows, style guides, and quality benchmarks

• Submit completed work to their Graduate Lead for quality review and incorporate feedback

• Apply quality control for complex content, flagging items that require escalation to the Graduate Lead

• Maintain consistent throughput to meet team production targets

• Maintain accurate work logs in the team tracking system

• Maintain confidentiality of student and patron records accessed in the course of processing materials, consistent with FERPA and Library privacy policies

General Team Responsibilities (approximately 15-20% of effort)

• Participate in onboarding and training during the first weeks of each semester

• Attend team check-ins and contribute to workflow improvement discussions

• Communicate proactively when questions, edge cases, or blockers arise

Captioning & Transcription Focus Area

The Student Accessibility Assistant (Captioning & Transcription) performs production captioning and transcription work for the UVA Library Digital Accessibility Student Team. This position focuses on creating and editing accurate, standards-compliant captions and transcripts for Library digital media collections, including a supplemental multilingual captioning pilot. Job functions include:

• Create accurate captions and transcripts for Library digital media using captioning software tools

• Edit and correct auto-generated captions to meet quality standards for timing, accuracy, speaker identification, and readability

• Edit captions and transcripts for materials with multiple speakers, background noise, or technical vocabulary, applying judgment about clarity and speaker attribution

• Follow established style guides and quality benchmarks for caption formatting

• Submit completed work to the Graduate Captioning Specialist for quality review and incorporate feedback

• Assist with quality review of LLM-generated captions for non-English language media as directed by the Graduate Captioning Specialist

• Flag accuracy concerns and document recurring issues for pilot evaluation

PDF and Document Remediation Focus Area

The Student Accessibility Assistant (PDF & Document Remediation) performs high-volume remediation of PDF and document files for the UVA Library Digital Accessibility Student Team. This position focuses on making Library digital content accessible by correcting structure, tags, reading order, alt text, and metadata using professional remediation tools. Job functions include:

• Remediate PDF and document files to meet WCAG 2.1 AA and PDF/UA accessibility standards

• Correct and add reading order, semantic tags, heading structure, alt text for images, and document metadata using Adobe Acrobat Pro

• Apply quality control for complex content types such as tables, charts, and multi-column layouts, flagging items that require escalation to the Graduate Remediation Specialist

• Process documents through the established remediation workflow, including pre-processing steps in SensusAccess and Equidox as appropriate

• Run quality checks using PAC 2024 or equivalent PDF accessibility validation tools

• Submit completed files to the Graduate Remediation Specialist for final review and incorporate feedback

• Maintain consistent throughput to meet team production targets

• Maintain confidentiality of student and patron records accessed in the course of processing materials, consistent with FERPA and Library privacy policies

Submit a CV/resume as well as a cover letter detailing your experience with accessibility, attention to detail, or related skills, and your commitment to digital equity and information access. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

Education: Current undergrad UVA student​

Licensure: None

Federal work-study students are eligible to apply. UVA Library is committed to building an inclusive team. Students from underrepresented backgrounds and students with disabilities are especially encouraged to apply.

PREFERRED EXPERIENCE

• Prior experience with captioning, transcription, or audio/video editing

• Familiarity with captioning platforms such as YouTube Studio, Verbit, 3Play Media, or Amara

• Experience with or interest in linguistics, a second language, or translingual content — particularly relevant for supporting the multilingual captioning pilot

• Prior experience with PDF editing, document formatting, or accessibility remediation

• Familiarity with Adobe Acrobat Pro, Microsoft Word accessibility features, or HTML/document structure concepts

• Background in a STEM field or familiarity with technical notation (formulas, equations, diagrams) is a plus, given the volume of STEM content in Library collections

• Familiarity with version control or document management practices, such as tracking file versions, naming conventions, and organized handoffs

• Interest in disability studies, media accessibility, or library and information science

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

This is primarily a sedentary job involving extensive use of desktop computers. The job does occasionally require traveling some distance to attend meetings and trainings. Hybrid work might be possible after initial training period.

WEEKLY HOURS

Up to 20 hours/week; average 10-12 hours across the semester

Hourly Rate: $18/hour

The University of Virginia is an equal opportunity employer. All interested persons are encouraged to apply, including veterans and individuals with disabilities. Learn more about UVA’s commitment to non-discrimination and equal opportunity employment.