Benetech’s Global Certified Accessible Program
Benetech’s Global Certified Accessible (GCATM) is the first-ever program to certify the accessibility of e-books. Publishers committed to accessibility work with Benetech to enhance their production processes and achieve conformance to accessibility standards – both the EPUB Accessibility 1.0 Specification as well as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) for levels A, AA, and AAA. Once a publisher has made these process improvements, titles are certified on a go-forward basis.
EBSCO and Benetech are working together towards a future where all books are created in an accessible manner, enabling people with print disabilities to gain access to the written word and improving their reading and educational outcomes.
EBSCO would like to recognize the following publishers for their efforts toward an accessible future.
Below is a list of Benetech-Certified publishers as well as publishers currently seeking certification that are available through EBSCO eBooks. Click the publisher name to browse available e-book titles in EBSCOhost Collection Manager.
Publishers Fully Certified with Benetech
- Acorn Press
- Alto
- Annick Press
- Athabasca University Press
- Brick Books
- Brush Education
- Dundurn Group
- ECW Press
- Editions Bouton d'or Acadie
- Editions MultiMondes
- Flanker Press
- Goose Lane
- Guilford Publications Inc.
- Guy Saint-Jean Editeur
- House of Anansi
- Iguana Books
- Invisible Publishing
- J. Gordon Shillingford Publishing
- Jones & Bartlett Learning
- Kogan Page
- Les Presses de l'Université d'Ottawa
- Linda Leith Publishing
- Mawenzi House Publishers Ltd
- Nimbus Publishing Limited
- Orca Book Publishers
- Pearson Education (AUS)
- Pearson Education (UK)
- Pearson Education (US)
- Radiant Press
- Signature Editions
- Simon & Schuster
- Taylor & Francis
- Tidewater Press
- University of British Columbia Press
- University of Calgary Press
- University of Michigan Press
- Wiley
- Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Publishers Partnering with Benetech to Improve the Accessibility of Their E-books:
- Bayard Canada Books
- Cengage
- Editions du Boréal
- Éditions Les Herbes rouges
- Elsevier
- Heritage House Publishing
- Inanna Publications
- McGraw Hill
- Presses de l’Université du Québec
- University of Regina Press
- World Bank Publications
Notes:
- The GCA certification indicates that a file was born fully accessible and compliant with all accessibility guidelines. However, individual e-book platforms may or may not support all these features. Please consult documentation on the platform.
- While Benetech certification denotes confidence that the publisher has demonstrated its ability to regularly produce accessible books, any books that do not fully conform to the Global Accessible Certification standard remain the responsibility of the publisher.
WCAG AA Compliance:
The EBSCO eBooks team recently built an automated tool to assess the accessibility of the EPUB e-books received from publishers, validating against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA.
EBSCO would like to recognize the following publishers who are submitting more than 75% of their e-books as EPUBs and passing the automated WCAG accessibility check:
- Arab Press Agency - Nashron
- Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd.
- Baylor University Press
- Bentham Science Publishers Ltd.
- BookMobile
- BPB Online LLP
- CLC Publications
- Ecoe Ediciones
- Georgetown University Press
- Harlequin Holland
- Indiana University Press
- J. Gordon Shillingford Publishing
- Juta & Company Ltd - Textbooks
- Lantern Publishing & Media
- Legend Press
- Morgan James Publishing
- Nordic Academic Press
- Profile Books
- Saddleback Educational Publishing
- SteinerBooks
- STM Learning, Inc.
- Syracuse University Press
- University Press of Florida
- University Press of Kentucky
- University Press of Mississippi
- William Carey Publishing
While an automated check cannot assess all aspects of accessibility (for instance, the quality of the alternative text read in place of an image or graphic), it is a directional indication that the publisher is aware of compliance guidelines, has taken steps to create accessible EPUB files, and the files are free of errors that could seriously undermine the accessibility of the book.
(Note: the benefit of the Benetech GCA program is to verify that the title has been made fully accessible and that the quality of the file would ensure an equitable experience for print-disabled users. This is something an automated check cannot do.)