Internet Archive to Digitize One Million Books for the Blind
The Internet Archive, non-profit home of the Open Library and the Wayback Machine, has launched a new service today that will more than double the number of books currently available to those who are blind, dyslexic, or otherwise print disabled. The service will scan, digitize, and convert books into DAISY, an XML format designed to meet the needs of vision-impaired and other print-disabled readers.
While older books are available in unencrypted DAISY format on the Internet Archive’s website, newer titles will be made accessible for free to qualified users only — people whose NLS key (a code provided by the Library of Congress’ National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped) identifies them as print disabled. To date, over 800,000 people in the US are registered with the Library of Congress as being print disabled.
Jessie Lorenz, an associate director at the Independent Living Resource Center San Francisco who has been blind since birth, expects the Internet Archive’s service to be “groundbreaking.” Typically, books that are made available to the print-disabled community have been limited to those books chosen by institutions or service groups responsible for the scanning. This has made it difficult for the print disabled to access more controversial or edgy titles. But doubling the selection will make a big difference: “This project will enable people like me to choose what we read,” said Lorenz.
The Internet Archive will be funding the digitization of the first 10,000 books to be donated, and they are currently seeking donations of e-books and print books in all languages from individuals, libraries, and publishers.
Make a donation of e-books or print books in any language »
Access the free books from the Internet Archive’s Open Library »
Read the full article from GigaOM »
Get more information on the DAISY format »
Watch the video of Internet Archive founder and Digital Librarian Brewster Kahle talk about his dream of a free universal digital library:
You can find the full-screen version here.
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