Statement of Principles for the Creation and Production of Accessible Books and Materials

Version 1.0
Last Revised: June 14, 2002

This Statement of Principles represents the minimum standard to be met by Libraries for the Blind and producers of alternate format materials.

The DAISY Consortium endorse the following: Alternative format materials should be a faithful representation of a published work to ensure that those who are blind or print-disabled have access to the same information as the rest of society. Libraries or other producers of alternate format versions who adopt these Principles assure readers that these versions, regardless of their country of origin, represent the original published work as closely as possible and are accessible.

In terms of these principles, accessible is defined as follows. The print document is rendered in an alternative format such as braille, audio, large print or e-text in such a manner as to enable the print-handicapped reader to extract information from the document as easily and fully as possible.

DAISY supports the following principles in the creation and production of alternate format materials.

Producers will respect and maintain the integrity of the published work to every extent possible. The producer will not alter the content or omit essential components unless absolutely necessary to provide access to the information.
It is recognized that it may be necessary for producers to alter the intended order of the published work or add explanation of visual material so as to make the content accessible to the reader.
If it is necessary to alter the presentation of the published work solely for the purpose of accessibility any information that a producer adds or omits must be identified as such.
It is acknowledged that some producers will be required to produce only a portion of a published work.These partial books should be identified as such.
It is recommended that producers of digital materials apply a structure to the published work to facilitate access and navigation by the reader.

Prepared for: DAISY Consortium and IFLA: Section of Libraries for the Blind
Date: January 27, 1999

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