Access to reading
Less than five percent of book titles published in the UK each year are produced in an alternative format to standard print. This means that the three million people with sight loss or print reading disability have a severely reduced access to reading. Books and magazines in alternative formats are much more expensive and are very rarely available at the same time as the standard print versions.
The Right to Read Alliance is campaigning to change this. The aim of the Right to Read Campaign is to ensure that everyone in the UK is able to read the same book at the same time at the same price.
New technologies provide opportunities to help achieve this aim but, as with the developed print alternatives, copyright remains a big issue.
To give people with sight loss the best possible choice from the narrow range that is available it is vital for librarians, teachers and volunteers to be aware of all the alternative formats and where to find them.
- Finding books - the different alternative formats and where to get them
- Catalogues – where to find specific titles and either borrow or buy them
- Children’s books – alternative formats for young people, including school text books and where to get them
- Transcription services – creating alternative formats for titles not available from any other source
- Foreign language – finding alternative formats in languages other than English
