This section of the Accessibility & Disability web site presents links to resources that provide copies of text books, trade books, journals, operation manuals, scientific articles, and other publications in forms that are accessible to people with disabilities. Some of the formats include Braille, large type, recorded books, digital books, and tactile graphics.
American Printing House for the Blind
APH was founded in 1858 and offers "braille, large type, recorded, computer disk, and tactile graphic publications."
Bookshare.org is sponsored by the nonprofit company Benetech, founded in 1989. "This online community enables book scans to be shared, thereby leveraging the collections of thousands of individuals who regularly scan books, eliminating significant duplication of effort. Bookshare.org takes advantage of a special exemption in the U.S. copyright law that permits the reproduction of publications into specialized formats for the disabled."
Books-To-Burn is a text- to-speech file for making books on CD on an Apple computer. "Books2burn translates text files into a series of audio files (Apple AIFF format) which can then be converted to mp3's or other formats using programs like LAME, iTunes, or other tools available around the net. The program is released under the GNU GPL. Feel free to copy and modify the program."
The National Braille Association "maintains a depository of textbooks and career and general interest materials, as well as a collection of music, which is continuously updated and augmented by NBA transcribing assignment services."
The National Braille Press, a nonprofit braille printing and publishing house, was established in 1927.
National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped
This is a free service provided by the United States Library of Congress. NLS translates books, magazines, and other printed matter into braille and also records spoken versions.
Recording For the Blind & Dyslexic
RFBD, founded in 1938, provides recorded books--including textbooks--in specialized formats. They also offer a custom recording service.
The Texas Text Exchange describes itself as "the first web-based digital library of electronic books for exclusive use by students with disabilities," noting that they have hundreds of books online and over a hundred active institutions in the United States and Canada.