Bookshare/Benetech

Stand 224

Palo Alto, CA

URL   www.bookshare.org

Company Profile
Bookshare (www.bookshare.org) is the world’s largest online library of ebooks for people who experience barriers to reading printed text, such as dyslexia and other learning disabilities, visual impairments, and physical disabilities. Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), Bookshare is FREE for all qualified U.S. students of any age. People with qualifying disabilities who are not students pay a nominal annual fee for their memberships. Bookshare members have access to more than 520,000 titles that they can read on a variety of software tools and devices, many of which allow them to see the words and hear them read aloud simultaneously, to read in large print, or to listen to books in audio only. Bookshare offers textbooks and books for both assigned reading and pleasure reading, as well as titles for college and test preparation, career advancement, and skill development. Bookshare is an initiative of Benetech (www.benetech.org), a Palo Alto, Calif.-based nonprofit that develops and uses technology to create positive social change. Accessible Books for Texas (www.Bookshare.org/cms/state/texas) is a Benetech initiative funded by the Texas Education Agency that supports Texas K-12 public school educators with free training in Bookshare and accessible learning materials.