International Membership

Bookshare™ offers an expanding number of accessible books to people all over the world with qualifying print disabilities. Thousands of accessible books are available for download to international Members, based on copyright permissions granted by publishers and authors. Bookshare’s goal is to continue working with publishers and authors to increase the number of books available globally. Currently Bookshare has over 5,000 books available to Members in 30 countries.

Membership

To download copyrighted books, you need to sign up as Member. Bookshare offers two kinds of memberships:

Membership Type Download Privileges Cost
Individual Allows you to download copyrighted books for your own use. This membership requires a Proof of Disability. U.S. $75 ($25 set up fee + $50 annual fee)

(Some countries may have discounted memberships, see below.)
Organizational Allows faculty/staff to download books for qualified students or clients within your school or institution. You will need to provide a Proof of Disability. Two payment options:
  • By Number of Books
    30 book block U.S. $300
    60 book block U.S. $450
    100 book block U.S. $600
Or,
  • By Funding Individual Memberships:
    U.S. $75 per Member ($25 one-time set up fee + $50 annual fee)
(Some countries may have discounted memberships, see below.)

Country-Specific Information

Bookshare has additional information on services in specific countries. We welcome contacts from national organizations interested in developing Bookshare further in your country. To find out more, visit your country’s information page:

Discounted Memberships

Certain countries may have discounted memberships paid for by government or nonprofit agencies. To find out more visit your country’s information page:

Available Books

Bookshare offers over 5000 books available to Members worldwide. Just select Advanced Search, enter your search criteria and select “Books Available Worldwide” from the Books to Search drop down menu.

Here is a sample of the titles available:

Published by HarperCollins

  1. Elephants Can Remember, by Agatha Christie
  2. The Princess Diaries (The Princess Diaries, Volume I), by Meg Cabot
  3. The Thorn Birds, by Colleen McCullough
  4. Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston
  5. Soul Mountain, by Gao Xingjian
  6. Meet the Beatles: A Cultural History of the Band that Shook Youth, Gender and the World, by Stephen D. Stark

Published by Scholastic

  1. Kristy's Great Idea (The Baby-Sitters Club #1), by Ann M.Martin
  2. Welcome to Dead House (Goosebumps Series), by R. L. Stine
  3. The Magic School Bus: Lost In the Solar System, by Joanna Cole
  4. The Hitchhiker, by R. L. Stine
  5. Esperanza Rising, by Pam Muñoz Ryan

Published by Baen Books

  1. Falling Free, by Lois McMaster Bujold
  2. 1634: The Galileo Affair, by Eric Flint, Andrew Dennis
  3. We Few, by David Weber, John Ringo
  4. Warlord, by David Drake, S. M. Stirling
  5. More Than Honor, by David Weber

Published by O'Reilly Media

  1. Windows XP In A Nutshell, by Tim O'Reilly, David A. Karp, Troy Mott
  2. Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Tiger Edition, by David Pogue
  3. Java Cryptography, by Jonathan Knudsen
  4. iPod and iTunes: The Missing Manual, 3rd Edition, by J. D. Biersdorfer
  5. eBay: The Missing Manual, by Nancy Conner

Various Spanish Language Publishers via Bookshare’s Argentinean Partner Tiflolibros

  1. El Obsceno Pájaro De La Noche, by José Donoso
  2. La Ciudad De Las Bestias, by Isabel Allende
  3. Contra Bush, by Carlos Fuentes
  4. La Ciudad y Los Perros, by Mario Vargas Llosa
  5. Yo, El Supremo, by Augusto Roa Bastos

Global Permissions

In many countries, there are accessibility laws that permit the creation of accessible versions of books for people with disabilities. Unfortunately, these are national laws not global laws. So, to distribute books around the world, Bookshare needs to ask permission from publishers and authors. Most are willing to provide such permissions, but it takes time to solicit their assistance. Authors and publishers wishing to help Bookshare grow its international collection can find more information on the Author and Publisher pages.

Some of the publishers who have agreed to global permissions include the following:

  • HarperCollins (fiction and nonfiction)
  • Scholastic (children's titles)
  • The Perseus Books Group (nonfiction, fiction, travel, college textbooks)
  • O'Reilly Media (technical computer)
  • Baen Books (science fiction and fantasy)
  • East West Publications (India)
  • Seasons Publishing (India)

Key Supporters

International Bookshare has been made possible by generous grants from the Bernard A. Newcomb Fund at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, with the long-term goal of supporting our international efforts from memberships.

Through funding from Lavelle Fund for the Blind, Bookshare has developed a partnership with WORTH TRUST in South India (RCMCT-WORTH TRUST Rehabilitation Centre for Physically Challenged). WORTH TRUST runs a scanning and proofreading operation that employs people with disabilities. It is a win-win situation where people with physical disabilities in the East help those with visual impairments in the West and around the world.

Additionally, through a partnership with Vidyavrikshah, a nongovernmental organization in South India that serves those with visual impairments, Bookshare has been granted global permissions from Indian publishers such as Seasons Publishing and East West Publications. Now these books are available to everyone.

Bookshare hopes to build more partnerships to support the expansion of accessible book services to everyone in the world who needs them.