Who we are

People with reading barriers face numerous challenges. According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 285 million people worldwide are visually impaired, 90% of whom live in developing countries. An even higher number of people have dyslexia or a language-based learning disability that makes it difficult or impossible to read printed text. UNESCO has reported that if all students in low income countries left school with basic reading skills, 171 million people could be lifted out of poverty, equivalent to a 12% cut in world poverty.

Our mission

Bookshare® empowers people who cannot read traditional books to pursue education, employment, and social participation by making reading and learning materials accessible.

Bookshare is the world’s largest collection of accessible ebooks. Members can access over 1.4 million titles and read in ways that work for them with easy-to-read, accessible formats. The collection includes books for school, career, and reading pleasure, as well as titles in over 40 languages. The collection is supported by partnerships with over 1,000 US and international publishers and a dedicated volunteer community.

Bookshare operates in the U.S. under a copyright exemption—the Chafee Amendment—which grants nonprofit organizations the ability to make books available to people with print disabilities without publisher permission. Bookshare receives publisher permission to provide books to members outside the US.

Thanks to funding from the US Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), Bookshare is free for all qualified US students and schools. Bookshare’s current funding award from the Department of Education is also referred to as the DREAM (Delivering Revolutionary Equitable and Accessible Materials) Center. Qualified individuals who are not students pay a nominal annual fee for their membership, including reduced fees in some countries outside the US. Learn about membership fees.

Bookshare is an initiative of Benetech, a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit, nonpartisan organization (Tax ID: 77-0555413) that empowers communities with software for social good.