Tweet		| Reader Comments

Flat World Knowledge, publisher of open source digital textbooks, has signed an agreement with Bookshare to make its material accessible to students with print disabilities. Under the master agreement, Flat World will provide its texts as digital XML files to Bookshare which will convert them to DAISY (Digital Accessible Information System) and BRF (Braille Ready Format) formats. College students with print disabilities and Bookshare memberships can read the texts via free e-book software from Bookshare, and all students with reading challenges can use other DAISY software applications and hardware devices that support DAISY or BRF.

Betsy Beaumon, v-p and general manager of Bookshare, estimated that less than 5% of college textbook material is available to those with print disabilities. The organization has agreements with many trade publishers to make their content available through Bookshare, but this is the first agreement Bookshare has made with a college publisher. Flat World cofounder Eric Frank said that in addition to “being the right thing to do,” the agreement with Bookshare “is consistent with our business model” to supply content to as wide a range of people as possible. Under Flat World’s pricing/business model, students have access the entire textbooks for free online, and Flat World offers a variety of other formats, including print books, for a fee. The company is immediately making eight titles available through Bookshare and expects to have 17 to 20 textbooks in the system by the end of the spring term.

Bookshare is using funds from a $32 million grant received from the Department of Education to underwrite the program.

Also on PW

PW's Libraries Page

PW's Best Books of 2011

Tale of the Tablets: Comparing New Devices more...