The Royal National Institute of Blind People’s (RNIB) Bookshare service has been given a major overhaul.
Providing more than a million free books and resources to pupils and students with vision impairments and those with print reading impairments, the website has been revamped with enhanced accessibility features and standards.
It will mean teachers and pupils can download and use educational books and resources more easily and quickly, allowing them to be on a level playing field with their peers.
The hugely popular website provides books, worksheets and resources free of charge to UK teachers, supporting staff, and students which can be downloaded in accessible formats including electronic braille and audio.
The overhaul of the web platform has been carried out by digital design and technology agency Studio 24 in partnership with RNIB, made possible by the players of People’s Postcode Lottery.
RNIB Bookshare also hosts the Curriculum Framework for Children and Young People with Vision Impairment (CFVI) Resource Hub, a free online hub containing resources and worksheets to support delivery of the core outcome areas identified within the CFVI.
All the titles have been generously donated by over 1,000 publishers and have been downloaded more than 1.2 million times since 2016. The service supports 59,000 students across 14.5K schools, colleges, and universities.
“We know Bookshare is a vital resource for many students and teachers,” said Rochelle Pretsell, RNIB’s Bookshare Team Leader.
“Bookshare enables students with reading difficulties and vision impairments to access educational materials just like their peers, promoting equal opportunities in education.
“The new and improved RNIB Bookshare makes the platform much easier to use and we are confident it will benefit thousands of students and teachers on their educational journeys, be it at school, college, or university, for many years to come.”
The new RNIB Bookshare website can be used with assistive technologies and users can adjust their browser settings to make changes, including colour contrast. Careful attention has been paid to word spacing, font style and size, use of colour, and limiting line length.
The website uses responsive design, so users with print impairments can adjust the presentation for example by removing images or zooming in on text. Design of all clickable buttons on the site has been adjusted to make them more easily visible.
To find out more visit https://www.rnibbookshare.org/
Comments