The World Intellectual Property Organization and a group of key partners are launching a new alliance to boost the number of books in accessible format for use by hundreds of millions of people around the globe who are blind, visually impaired, or otherwise print disabled, most of whom live in less-developed regions.

The partners of the Accessible Books Consortium (ABC) officially inaugurated the new multi-stakeholder entity on June 30, 2014 at a ceremony in Geneva.

ABC was created to help implement the objectives of the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled at a practical level through work in three areas: the sharing of technical skills in developing and least developed countries to produce and distribute books in accessible formats, promoting inclusive publishing, and building an international database and book exchange of accessible books. The Marrakesh Treaty was adopted by WIPO’s members on June 27, 2013 and will enter into force once it has been ratified by 20 nations.

“The launch of the Accessible Books Consortium advances global efforts to increase the number of books available for use by people with print disabilities,” WIPO Director General Francis Gurry said. “We are pleased that ABC’s stakeholders are fully committed to collaborating and ensuring the success of this initiative.”

According to the World Blind Union (WBU), over 90% of all published materials are inaccessible by blind or low vision people. This scarcity of published works in accessible formats has been referred to as the “global book famine.”

"The Accessible Book Consortium provides a practical way to address the enormous problem of the lack of books in accessible formats in the world today" said Maryanne Diamond, Immediate Past President of the World Blind Union and Chair of the International Disability Alliance. “Persons with print disabilities have the right to information and the right to read on an equal basis with their sighted peers. The ABC provides an excellent platform to bring together key stakeholders in the delivery of holistic solutions to this very large and complicated global problem."

“The lack of books in accessible formats has been a true barrier for education and employment opportunities for the blind and visually impaired in developing and least developed countries,” Dipendra Manocha, President of the DAISY Forum of India said. “The ABC offers a golden promise that through collaboration among key stakeholders we can end the global book famine.”

Through its work on capacity building in developing and least developed countries, the ABC is helping to boost technical knowledge in how to produce accessible books, particularly for school books in national languages. The ABC also promotes inclusive publishing, which encourages publishers to deliver digital publications for sighted audiences that are equally accessible to the print disabled – a system known as “born accessible” – as well as encouraging the adoption of an industry-wide accessibility standard.

International Publishers Association President YS Chi said “The Accessible Books Consortium embodies the spirit and the collaboration that is needed to achieve equal access to all readers regardless of their abilities. Successes such as these are indicative of where WIPO’s strengths lie. Publishers and the IPA look forward to continuing our accessibility work with WIPO, the ABC, and the World Blind Union.”

Under the auspices of ABC, WIPO also hosts the Trusted Intermediary Global Accessible Resources book exchange, a database of over 238,000 accessible format books in 55 languages from libraries from around the world.

The ABC includes the following umbrella organizations: World Blind Union, DAISY Consortium, International Authors' Forum, International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organizations, and the International Publishers Association.