LIA – Libri Italiani Accessibili is a biennial project started in 2011, coordinated by Ediser, a service company owned by Associazione Italiana Editori (Italian Publishers Association), and funded by the Italian Ministry for Culture. Its aim is to provide a service able to increase the availability of digital publications accessible for blind and visual impaired in full respect of both authors’ and publishers’ rights, through the creation of an online catalogue of 3,000 titles. The guiding concept of the project is to make accessibility part of mainstream production and distribution flows in publishing industry. At the end of the first year of work, focused on several introductory studies, the format identified as the most suitable to achieve this objective is EPUB 3, in line with general technological evolution, and able to allow publishers to adjust the way they produce their ebooks, without radically changing it. Speakers: Cristina Mussinelli

1. THE LIA PROJECT:
PROVIDING ACCESSIBLE BOOKS IN
EPUB FOR PEOPLE (KIDS)WITH
READING DISABILITIES
TOC BOLOGNA, 18TH MARCH 2012

2. RNIB - I'd miss - A World Without Books
RNIB - I'd miss - A World Without Books - YouTube
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3. In 2008, the Spanish National Organization of the Blind
(ONCE), in co-operation with the Children’s Committee
of the World Blind Union (WBU) hosted an
international congress in one of its educational
resource centers. Its aim was to facilitate a gathering
of blind and partially sighted teenagers from the
different regions of the world and enable them to
reflect on their lives and put forward their demands
and needs.
The concerns of the children from industrialized
countries focus on social affairs:
not wanting to feel or look different from their peers;
accessing information; feeling happy with
themselves as people with a visual impairment; and
feeling integrated.

4. Internationally the issues of accessibility and inclusion have gained momentum and
there are several initiatives and projects going on at institutional level.
Publishing is involved at every level of accessibility initiative, from work with the
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on a worldwide standard of best
practice for accessibility to individual company action.
Alliances are consolidating between groups representing those with print disabilities
and those supporting the publishing industry: Royal National Institute for the Blind
(RNIB), Publishers Licensing Society (PLS), JISC TechDis support work on large
print sales models, accessible e-book platforms and guidance on obtaining textbooks in
alternative formats to name just a few examples.
At European level, projects such as ETIN and eAccess+ are also focusing on
accessibility of contents.
Print disabilities, including blindness and low vision, affect a consistent part of
population all over Europe, the more so if we consider overall ageing population.

5. The LIA Project – Libri Italiani Accessibili aims at providing a service able to
increase the availability on the market of digital publications accessible for blind
and visual impaired.
The Project is coordinated by Associazione Italiana Editori, (Italian Publishers
Association) and managed by its service company Ediser working in collaboration
with the Italian Blind Union.
It is funded by the Italian Ministry for Culture in compliance with the “Fund in
favour of publishing for blind and visual impaired”.
The Project aims at creating an online catalogue of 3,000 accessible titles
including fiction and essays from Italian and foreign authors that will be then
update in the following years.
The funding idea is to include accessibility in mainstream production and
distribution flows rather than to create a dedicated stream. Such outline will
advantage blind and visual impaired as they will be able to purchase and/or lend
ebooks at the same conditions than sighted readers (in terms of channels and
time), with tangible benefits for their inclusion in wider socio-cultural terms.
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6. The Project, set off in 2011, is biennial and can be divided in two stages:
a pilot stage and a working stage.
During the first stage, ended by the end of 2011, preliminary studies necessary to
define all the aspects of service have been carried out.
In particular:
• Survey on reading habits and use of technologies by blind and visual impaired;
• Analysis of accessible production formats;
• Accessibility tests;
• Analysis of metadata;
• Design of production, cataloguing and distribution flows of accessible versions.
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7. THE LIA PROJECT
THE SURVEY
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8. THE SURVEY
The survey was carried out in 2011 in collaboration with Unione Italiana Ciechi
(Italian Blind Union) and Conferenza Nazionale Universitaria dei Delegati per la
Disabilità (National Conference of University Delegates for Disability). Scientific
coordination was made by the Milan University Università degli Studi Milano -
Bicocca along with the main Italian survey company Doxa.
The most significant result emerging from the survey, how much and how frequently
blind and visual impaired read, highlights they are keen readers: in a sample
totaling 1,505 persons, the average of books read yearly is nine per capita, three
times more than the national average of sighted readers.
Survey also examined:
• the relation between blind and visual impaired and reading;
• availability and use by blind and visual impaired of reading digital devices such as
tablets, ereaders etc.
In particular:
• how much and how frequently blind and visual impaired read books;
• which is or would be their favourite literary genre;
• what reading instruments they use: formats, software and devices.
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9. What about younger readers?
The survey includes a qualitative focus with interviews to some secondary school
students, emerging as equally keen readers as other age groups. Adults, both
teachers and parents, play a strong role in the choice of texts to convert into
Braille or audio book format. Kids are only marginally involved in selection,
meaning the books at their disposal exclude best sellers and “must have” for
their age, considered “non educational” by adults.
LIA would aim at including in its catalogue a section of books for younger
blind and visual impaired readers meant to offer them equal access to
entertainment and information as their sighted peers.
The great majority of titles will be “pure text”
books – more complex titles, such as illustrated
books, will be carefully examined to understand
the difficulties in making such publications
accessible.
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10. THE SURVEY
Average number of per capita books read by
visual impaired in the last 12 months: 9.2
Sighted readers of of at least one book in the
Sighted readers at least one book in the last
Sighted readers of at least one book in the
last 12 months 46.8%
last 12 months 46.8%
12 months 46.8%
(Source: Istat 2010)
(Source: Istat 2010)
Average number of books read in preceding
Average number of books read in preceding
three months 2.71
three months 2.71
(Source Nielsen for Cebel 2010)
(Source Nielsen for Cebel 2010)
Every day Sometimes Once a week Sometimes Sometimes
a week a month a year
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11. THE SURVEY
Digital formats
29.7%
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12. THE LIA PROJECT
FORMAT ANALYSIS AND ACCESSIBILITY TESTS
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13. FORMAT ANALYSIS AND ACCESSIBILITY TESTS
The operating structure of LIA, in tight cooperation with the major international
projects active in the field of accessibility, like ETIN at EC level, TIGAR under the
aegis of WIPO, and organizations such as IDPF, identified the EPUB format as the
most suitable standard for the production and distribution of the 3,000 accessible
titles foreseen as final objective of the project.
This choice was made considering the following:
• EPUB is presently the standard most used internationally by publishers for
producing ebooks;
• EPUB 3.0 is a highly accessible format, as its specifics include those of the
DAISY format, one of the most used standards for producing accessible contents.
Namely, the accessibility of an EPUB 3 file is granted by an improved navigation of
contents, possible thanks to a complete and flexible representation of content and
to the use of semantic tags.
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14. FORMAT ANALYSIS AND ACCESSIBILITY TESTS
The first phase of analysis took part in cooperation with national and international
accessibility experts and emphasized that digital file accessibility originates from
the composite interaction of the following elements:
• the file created by the publisher;
• the reading software (assistive and/or mainstream);
• the specific reading device;
• the DRM type applied to the file;
• the kind of disability of user.
Contemporarily, tests were made on some EPUB 2 sample files provided by
publishers who agreed to join the pilot stage.
The results allowed to define the characteristics an EPUB 2 or 3 must include to be
fully accessible. Such features were organized in a specific chart, shared with
accessibility experts.
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15. ACCESSIBILITY GUIDELINES
Best practice guidelines for publishers to
follow in their production process and,
where appropriate, to integrate existing
standards (including ONIX, ePub and DAISY)
into mainstream publishing are starting to
circulate.
LIA has provided the translation into Italian
of the Accessible Publishing, Best
Practice Guidelines for Publishers
recently released by EDItEUR and produced Ebook accessibili: best
Ebook accessibili: best
its Tagging best practice guide for
practice di taggatura
practice di taggatura
accessible ebooks in Italian, available on
request at LIA office.
For further reference:
http://www.editeur.org/109/Enabling-Technologies-Framework/
http://search.oreilly.com/?q=accessible
+epub+3

16. THE LIA PROJECT
PRODUCTION, CATALOGUING AND DISTRIBUTION:
USING MAINSTREAM FLOWS
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17. WOULD-BE LIA ECOSYSTEM
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18. THE LIA CATALOGUE
The LIA catalogue will be available on the website www.libriitalianiaccessibili.it.
By the end of the project, the idea would be to have some 3,000 titles as wide-
ranging as possible, ideally including best-sellers, literary prizes, with a specific
section for children and teens.
• User searches for title inside the accessible ebooks catalogue;
• User consults ebook metadata list including:
- bibliographic indications;
- accessibility metadata;
- info on which online store/library has the accessible ebook for sale/lending.
• Every chosen title will enter in an accessible order, transferred to the selected
online store/library.
• User will pay on the online store/library site.
• Should the “LIA compliant” certified file be different from the file for sighted
readers, blind and visual impaired users could possibly be requested to produce a
medical certificate in order to be authenticated as such.
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19. LIA SERVICES FOR PUBLISHERS AND USERS
• LIA will offer publishers training activities such as:
- guidelines for the production of accessible ebooks;
- dedicated training lessons on content accessibility;
- support for the creation of accessible ebooks.
• Conversion of EPUB 2 files into EPUB 3 accessible files (EPUB2 compliant);
• “LIA compliant” certification of file accessibility;
• Filling of accessibility metadata: code list 196 integrated in ONIX for
Books v. 2.1 and 3.0
• Users will find in a dedicated section of the site useful information on the use
of technologies, tests on reading devices, updates on newest innovations.
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20. The LIA Staff
Project Manager
Cristina Mussinelli cristina.mussinelli@progettolia.it
Project Assistants
Rosa Mugavero rosa.mugavero@progettolia.it
Alessandra Mutti alessandra.mutti@progettolia.it
Tel. +39.02 89280808
Fax +39.02 89280868
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