Accessible Books Consortium
The Accessible Books Consortium (ABC) is a public-private partnership led by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). ABC’s goal is to increase the number of books worldwide in accessible formats, such as braille, audio, e-text, large print, and to make them available to people who are blind, have low vision or are otherwise print disabled.
ABC’s advisory board provides technical expertise and ensures transparency and efficient communication with the stakeholder community. The DAISY Consortium is proud to sit on the ABC Advisory Board.
Focus of ABC
Accessible Publishing
ABC promotes the production of born accessible publications that are fully accessible to all readers—the same product should be usable by everybody.
In particular, ABC encourages all publishers to:
- use the accessibility features of the EPUB3 standard for the production of digital publications;
- include descriptions of the accessibility features of their products in the information they provide to retailers and others in the book supply chain.
Through targeted activities, such as the ABC International Excellence Awards, Best Practice Guidance and Online Training Tools ABC aims to further the production of mainstream accessible econtent.
ABC Global Book Service
The ABC Global Book Service is an online catalogue that allows participating libraries for the blind and organizations serving people who are print disabled, known as authorized entities, to obtain easily the accessible content they need. The Service supports the goals of the Marrakesh VIP Treaty at a practical level.
Capacity Building
ABC establishes projects in developing and least-developed countries that provide training and technical assistance to:
- Non-governmental organizations serving people with print disabilities
- Departments of education
- Commercial publishers