text: Benetech Establishes Global Certified Accessible Program to Ensure Content Serves All Students Equally | Benetech | Software for Social Good Ebook Accessibility: Benetech's Accessible Books Certification
  By Benetech, posted on June 22, 2017
  Ingram Content Group's VitalSource® and CoreSource® to incorporate the results of Benetech's Global Certified Accessible program into their service offerings
  Benetech, the leading software for social good nonprofit, in conjunction with Dedicon, Royal National Institute of Blind People, and Vision Australia, today announced Global Certified Accessible. The program is the first third-party ebook verification program for accessible content. Global Certified Accessible supports publisher efforts to meet or exceed accessibility requirements set by K-12 schools and post-secondary institutions. Today's announcement comes on the heels of a six-month beta program with participation from industry leaders spanning educational, academic, professional, and trade publications.
  Ingram Content Group's VitalSource® and CoreSource® will include the accessibility ratings for eTextbooks from publishers participating in the Global Certified Accessible program as a part of their metadata and catalog feeds through Bookshelf®, VitalSource's content-delivery platform. By doing so, procurement offices and school districts will be able to easily identify and prioritize third-party certified, accessible eTextbooks from publishers who choose to participate.
  "VitalSource is excited to help accelerate the adoption of accessible publishing," said Rick Johnson, VP of Product Strategy, VitalSource®. "As a global solutions provider, receiving accessibility certifications from Benetech and their global partners is a logical choice. As publishers increase their ability to produce content that provides access to all students, having a trusted source that can certify their accessibility will provide a welcome level of transparency to all involved."
  Learn more about Global Certified Accessible.
  "It's imperative that educational institutions prioritize accessible content that serves all students equally. Benetech's Global Certified Accessible program is a critical step in ensuring educators and procurement offices can confidently source ebooks that meet or exceed accessibility mandates. I look forward to the day when all publishers make their books accessible as a first decision and not as an afterthought."
  "At Elsevier we're committed to making sure that all our users get maximum benefit, insight and understanding from our online content. And so we are very pleased to pilot Benetech's Global Certified Accessible program. Our academic ebooks are born accessible and ready for wide, global dissemination. The program results will help us to continue to refine our accessibility features so that no user is without access. It's so important for all of us within the information, data, and publishing industries to work together to advance accessibility."
  "Every publisher should strive to make their content as accessible as possible. The first step is getting an accurate snapshot of compliance. Benetech's certification process is invaluable in identifying areas of improvement and helping to prioritize work. We're proud to be partners in this initiative."
  "Our goal at Penguin Random House is to bring our authors' stories and ideas to readers wherever they are and in whatever format they want to read. That includes ensuring that our titles are readily and easily accessible for people with reading disabilities and for classroom use. Together with Benetech, we have identified opportunities to improve our content-development processes and the accessibility of our ebooks, as we continue to better understand and address the needs of this community."
  "RNIB is committed to ensuring the fullest access to the written word along with creating a world where blind and partially sighted people, and those with print impairments, can access what they want at the time they want it in a format they can read. We are working closely with publishers in the UK to establish appropriate business models and standards, in line with Benetech, that secure this future. Working in partnership with the publishing industry, we want to take advantage of the revolution in standards that is finally here and for which we have worked hard to attain – building accessibility into mainstream standards marks the beginning of a new chapter; we now have to ensure that we bring these standards to life in a way that works for the end user and is sustainable for the industry."