Letter to the LA Public Library re. Adobe Digital Editions inaccessible electronic books

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July 27, 2009

Mr. Martin Gómez

City Librarian

Los Angeles Public Library

630 W. 5^th St.

Los Angeles, CA 90071

Via email and first class mail

Dear Mr. Gómez:

I write on behalf of the Reading Rights Coalition, a cross-disability group of over thirty organizations that are committed to ensuring that electronic books (e-books) are accessible to and usable by anyone wishing to read them.

I spoke a few weeks ago with Giovanna Mannino regarding the Los Angeles Public Library’s offering of e-books online through Adobe Digital Editions. As we discussed, Adobe Digital Editions e-books are not accessible to people who are blind or who have other print disabilities, such as learning disabilities and dyslexia. Digital Editions does not provide a text-to-speech option (which would read the book aloud), nor does it function with screen reading software used by individuals with print disabilities.

Because the Los Angeles Public Library is an agency of Los Angeles city government, it is covered by Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). In addition, because the library receives federal funding, it is covered by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Both of these laws require libraries to ensure that their communications with people with disabilities are as effective as their communications with nondisabled people. In addition, California law mirrors and extends the rights of individuals with disabilities to access the goods and services of public libraries.

As in other contexts, separate is inherently unequal and in this case, the access of individuals with disabilities is clearly unequal. Individuals without disabilities can access e- books 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, from the comfort of their homes or from any other location with an internet connection. Individuals with disabilities, on the other hand, have to go to the library during business hours, order the desired book, and wait days or weeks for the book to be found in an accessible format (e.g., Braille, audiobook, or accessible electronic book).

In the past, when libraries provided only print books, they had to rely on separate processes to get accessible versions of books for people with disabilities. However, because e- books, as zeros and ones, are not inherently visual, aural or tactile, they offer individuals the opportunity to access content through whatever method(s) are accessible to them. Accessible e- books create the opportunity, for the first time, for blind and print-disabled people to have access to the same content, in the same manner, with the same features and at the same time as sighted patrons.

Given the capability of electronic books to be accessible, libraries can no longer rely on separate, unequal processes for people with disabilities. Nor is it an excuse that the vendor has not made its product accessible. The inaccessibility of Digital Editions does not result from the absence of existing technology to make e-books accessible. The inaccessibility of Digital Editions is entirely the product of Adobe’s lack of interest in providing e-books that are accessible to people who are blind and print-disabled.

Members of our Reading Rights Coalition are taking this issue very seriously and, where possible, are working together with libraries to address it. We do not understand Adobe’s marketing plan, which appears to involve exposing its customers to liability. When libraries insist on accessibility of the products and services they purchase, accessibility happens. Because public libraries are the main initial market for Digital Editions, you have the opportunity to effect momentous positive change. In recognition of the purchasing power, and the legal obligations, of libraries, the American Library Association recently adopted a Resolution regarding Purchasing Accessible Electronic Resources, which calls upon libraries to require their vendors of electronic resources to verify compliance with accessibility standards and to ensure electronic resources are user-tested.

We recognize that the cost of print textbooks and environmental sustainability, among other reasons, make e-books extraordinarily desirable for your patrons. If you hold the line on accessibility, competitive market forces will come into play that will enable you to provide all of your patrons equal access to e-books under the law. But unless you insist on accessibility, no vendor will bother to provide it.

We would be happy to discuss these matters further. However, because you are already offering the Digital Editions service, and thus, already denying access to individuals with disabilities, any meeting should happen quickly.

Please feel free to contact me by email at ehill@law.syr.edu or by telephone at (202) 296-2044.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Eve L. Hill

On behalf of

The Reading Rights Coalition

Cc: Giovanna Mannino, Los Angeles Public Library

Dan Goldstein, Brown Goldstein & Levy

Amy Robertson, Fox & Robertson PC