Penguin Random House launches partnership with the RNIB, making its books available to blind and partially sighted readers

Today Penguin Random House UK has launched a new partnership with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) by signing up to two of the charity’s programmes - RNIB Bookshare and Talking Books.

RNIB is the UK’s leading charity supporting blind and partially sighted people.

RNIB Bookshare provides free access to books for print-disabled learners, including those with dyslexia or who are blind or partially sighted. This means that over 25,000 Penguin Random House titles - together with new releases - will be instantly available to RNIB Bookshare members for free from today. New titles will be available on publication day.

RNIB Bookshare is largely used by learners at schools and universities to access content linked to the curriculum or to their studies.

Talking Books is a library with over 40,000 RNIB registered users and is free to use. It provides specially adapted audio versions of books via both digital download and CD. All Penguin Random House audio books will soon be available for the RNIB to adapt and make available free of charge.

The partnership will support our efforts to make our books more inclusive and accessible as part of our Creative Responsibility strategy. Other actions we’ve taken include:

Ensuring all newly published e-books meet high standards of accessibility, including introducing measures like fully searchable and resizable text, captioned media and including clear navigation;

Giving free access to all our books to be reproduced by RNIB in giant print and braille formats.