More than half a million titles for blind and visually impaired

Libraries for the blind from Croatia, Spain, Latvia, Portugal and United Kingdom have recently added their collections to the Accessible Book Consortium (ABC), which brought the total number of books accessible to blind and visually impaired on Global Book Service beyond 500.000.

ABC is a public-private partnership under the flagship of World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), which includes different organizations and institutions for blind and visually impaired people and whose aim is to globally fulfill the goals set out in the Marrakesh Treaty and to increase the number of books worldwide in accessible formats. Pursuant to the Marrakesh Treaty, reproduction and cross-border exchange of books and other works in format accessible to blind and otherwise visually impaired people are allowed (Slovenia implemented the Directive 2017/1564 which enacts the Marrakesh Treaty with amendment to its Copyright Act, ZASP-H in November 2019).

ABC fulfills its purpose through the Global Book Service online portal that allows for cross-border exchange of books in accessible formats with the help of cooperating libraries and organizations. Recently, libraries for the blind and visually impaired from Croatia, Spain, Latvia, Portugal and UK joined ABC, which increased the Global Book Service’s collection well beyond half a million books in accessible formats.

For more information on the implementation of the Marrakesh Treaty, see here.