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NLS Operations Alert
No. 21-65
DATE : September 17, 2021
TO : Network Libraries
FROM : Matt Field, Special Assistant to the Director
SUBJECT : Update on Marrakesh Treaty implementation
NLS continues to work on implementing the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled. The treaty provides for
the exchange of accessible-format works across international borders by organizations (Authorized Entities, or AEs) that serve people who are blind, visually impaired, or print disabled.
We want to share a few successes highlighting this important work. To date, there are 1,118 Marrakesh-obtained works (DBGs, BRGs, and BRTs) in eight languages on BARD. Patrons have downloaded them
more than 19,600 times. NLS now has more than 101,000 titles (including DBCs) on the Accessible Books Consortium’s Global Book Service, by far the most of any Marrakesh AE. In early August, we simultaneously launched a new online publication,
Foreign Language Quarterly, and new BARD searching-by-language functions.
We also want to let you know that eight of our network libraries began a pilot program this week to test a new interface developed by the Accessible Books Consortium’s Global Book Service. The pilot
will enable NLS to gather information toward possible greater collaboration with the Accessible Books Consortium in the future, for the benefit of network libraries and patrons. The pilot will last through this calendar year.
NLS remains excited and committed to the groundbreaking Marrakesh Treaty. We encourage you to read
this excellent release from our library friends to the north.
The July–September issue of NLS News, which will be posted to our website
in the next few days, also features a recap of the ways patrons have benefited from NLS’s participation in the treaty.
As always, please email
[log in to unmask] or
[log in to unmask] with your foreign language requests.
For more information, please contact:
Matt Field
Special Assistant to the Director