Type of Project: Funded project Implementation project
Relieve book distress

In Germany, only a small part of literature is currently available to blind, visually impaired and reading-impaired people in accessible form. Since January 1, 2019, the new copyright law offers the possibility to lend accessible audio books via download free of charge not only to blind and visually impaired people, but to all people with a reading disability, and to exchange these books internationally. With this project, the German libraries for the blind (authorized bodies) organized in the Mediengemeinschaft für blinde, seh- und lesebehinderten Menschen e.V. (MediBuS) increased the stock of 21,500 titles previously available for this purpose by 40,000 titles and made them available to all people with a reading disability. This goal was achieved through various measures. - Making old stock of 34,000 titles, previously not available for download, accessible to all - Making third-party productions (6,000 audiobooks) barrier-free - Inform new user groups and create the technical conditions for lending to all people with reading disabilities The project consistently implements the goals of the new copyright law and the Marrakesh Treaty ("better supply of accessible literature in different output formats," "strengthening international exchange," and "improving the supply of literature to all people with reading disabilities") and makes a significant contribution to the timely alleviation of the book crisis for people who are blind, visually impaired, or have reading disabilities.