Human narrated audiobooks are CELA’s most popular format, and their growing popularity in the commercial market means that our readers have an incredible array of audiobooks to choose from. To provide those choices, CELA creates or acquires audiobooks in DAISY format for users. But we are also interested in advancing the accessibility of audiobooks available commercially. The term “born accessible” comes from the idea that with the right resources, training and agreed upon standards, the book industry can create accessible books which meet the needs of all types of readers as part of their process. Born accessible books will increase choices for people with print disabilities, but there is still work to be done to get to that step.

CELA has recently begun an Accessible Commercial Audiobooks Project, funded by Accessibility Standards Canada, which is designed to help create accessibility guidelines and resources for publishers, audiobook producers and others the audiobook industry.

What is the goal of the project?
We always begin our projects with our end users in mind and ensuring that their experiences and reading needs are our priority. The goal of this research project is to offer the audiobook industry information, backed by user experience, to create commercial audiobooks which are more fully accessible for people with print disabilities.

What is the process you plan to follow to accomplish the goals?
We are beginning by talking with readers with print disabilities about what barriers they experience while using audiobooks and what recommendations they have for features to address those barriers.

We are also consulting with people involved in creating and distributing accessible audiobooks, and commercial audiobooks here in Canada and abroad. Our goal is to gather information about three things:

• The commercial audiobook production practices and accessibility standards,
• challenges to implementing accessibility standards for commercial audiobooks
• and recommendations for best practices.

We will take what we learn and create a list of recommended features which we will incorporate into test audiobooks specifically designed for this project. We will invite readers with and without print disabilities to read these books and we will document their experiences.

From the feedback we receive following these tests we will recommend a set of best practice standards and create supporting resources which we will offer to publishers, audiobook producers and other stakeholders in the audiobook industry.  

Who is involved in the project?
The project involves a variety of stakeholders. We have invited some of our colleagues in publishing and the accessible reading world to an Advisory Committee which includes representatives of Rakuten Kobo, ECW Press, the Book Publishers Association of Alberta, L’Association nationale des éditeurs de livres, eBound, the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, the National Network for Equitable Library Service, and Laura Brady (Independent).   The Advisory Committee is helping to guide the project, and ensuring it includes the experience of people with disabilities as it addresses the needs of publishers.

If I am interested in becoming involved, how do I do that?
Later this summer we will begin recruiting people with lived experiences of print disabilities to take part in this study. Watch our newsletters, social media and our blog for updates in August and September. We will continue to share project updates as we have them.

What is the expected impact of this project?
As organizations and governments are increasingly focusing on accessibility, it is crucial that those with lived experiences help set the standards and expectations. In publishing and commercial audiobook production, a set of best practices related to accessible reading must be informed by people with print disabilities. As the industry moves towards creating ‘born accessible’ books, we expect the information gathered through this project will help remove barriers both for readers, and for the organizations who are developing processes to meet those readers’ needs.