• Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.73-91
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• 2022

For everyone, books are not only a passage to break down temporal and spatial barriers, but also a passport to the world. However, books are neither a passage nor a passport for persons with print disabilities. They are suffering from a severe book famine, with only 1-7% of alternative materials in accessible formats. The Marrakesh Treaty is an international agreement promoted by the WBU and WIPO to reduce such access gaps and inequalities. Accordingly, this study intensively analyzed and linked the global book famine and the Marrakesh Treaty for the persons with print disabilities including the blind and visually impaired, and suggested strategic tasks and implementation plans to strengthen the services of the disabled in domestic libraries. The government and libraries should concentrate all their competencies on improving awareness, inducing standardization of alternative materials in the publishing industry, amending and supplementing the copyright act and related laws, strengthening the digital file collection and service of the National Library for the disabled, and developing and applying library guidelines to implement the Marrakesh Treaty. This is because if food supports the body of the disabled, reading fosters their spirit. In order to solve the global book famine for persons with print disabilities, it is necessary to improve the publishing industry's cartels, copyright holders' barricades, and the weak platform of the library industry. All copyright holders, publishers, and libraries should participate in reducing the 95% gap in access between non-disabled and disabled people. That is the mantra of the book famine.

• Journal of Korean Library and Information Science Society
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.1-23
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• 2022

Access to knowledge and information is a universal human right. However, even after the Marrakesh Treaty was adopted on June 27, 2013, only 1-7% of standard printed materials are accessible to people with reading disabilities, including the visually impaired, and library services are very weak. As a result, the book famine of people with reading disabilities continues. This study, focusing on such severe access gaps and inequalities, analyzes Learning Ally and Bookshare in the US, the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) in the UK, Bibliothèque Numérique Francophone Accessible (BNFA) in France, and SAPIE in Japan, which are considered private organizations leading library services for the disabled in major developed countries. And based on the derived implications and the Marrakesh Treaty, a strategic plan was proposed to strengthen the services of the disabled in domestic libraries. It is urgent to enact the 'Act to Resolve Reading Barriers', amend the provisions related to the Copyright Act that restrict library services, strengthen the organizational capacity of the National Library for the Disabled, raise the service index for the disabled in library evaluation, and establish a library cooperation system centered on regional representative libraries and expand services, etc.