Bookshare — Benetech's Rights-Cleared Accessible-Ebook Library for Readers With Print Disabilities

Bookshare is an initiative of Benetech, a US nonprofit founded by MacArthur Fellow Jim Fruchterman. It operates under the Chafee Amendment copyright exemption, which lets authorised nonprofits supply books to people with print disabilities without publisher permission, and offers titles in formats such as DAISY text and audio, braille-ready files and MP3.
Access is free for qualified US students and schools thanks to funding from the US Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs; other members pay a nominal fee. Eligibility requires confirmation by a competent authority of a visual, physical or learning disability affecting print reading; conditions such as autism or ADHD alone do not qualify (Maryland State Library Agency).
Scale as reported by the operator: in August 2014 more than 300,000 members and over 250,000 titles from 500+ publishers; its current site cites over 1.4 million titles in 40+ languages with 1,000+ publishers, while a state library page lists 786,623 titles and 820+ publishers at the time of its snapshot, so counts differ by source and date.
Limits: the sources found are operator statements and library or press summaries; no independent evaluation of reading outcomes was located, and eligibility rules exclude some people who may benefit. It is best read as a proven, long-running access model whose learning impact is not independently documented here.

Read the full analysis: https://www.bookshare.org/cms/about