Expanding accessible library experiences at scale

Clarivate and Benetech team to help libraries support patrons with disabilities

Accessibility is an ongoing commitment that requires collaboration across libraries, content providers and technology partners. As part of this continued work, Clarivate and Benetech, a global nonprofit recognized for its leadership in accessible education and inclusive technology, are expanding their collaboration to support more equitable access to information for library communities worldwide.

This collaboration brings together library software and content solutions from Clarivate with the deep accessibility expertise of Benetech, including its flagship platform, Bookshare. Together, we are focused on helping academic and public libraries connect users more effectively with accessible content and services within the systems libraries already use.

Why this collaboration matters for libraries

Academic and public libraries serve an increasingly wide range of communities, including students, researchers, educators and lifelong learners with print disabilities. While accessible content and services exist, they can be difficult to discover, inconsistently surfaced within library environments or challenging for users to navigate independently.

Through this collaboration, Clarivate and Benetech are working to help libraries:

Reduce barriers to discovering and accessing accessible materials
Integrate accessibility more naturally into everyday library workflows
Support inclusive research, learning and reading experiences without adding operational complexity

The focus is practical and user-centered. It is intended to help libraries turn accessibility commitments into meaningful, day-to-day service improvements.

Connecting libraries to Bookshare’s 1.4 million accessible titles within library workflows

A central focus of this collaboration is strengthening how libraries connect users to Bookshare, the leading accessible online library. Bookshare offers more than 1.4 million titles in accessible formats and supports people with print disabilities across more than 50 countries/regions (based on publicly available information at the time of publication).

Rather than treating accessible content as a separate destination, Clarivate and Benetech are working to improve how Bookshare is surfaced, supported and understood within library environments. This includes clearer pathways, improved awareness and better guidance for both users and library staff.

For academic and public libraries, this means:

Clearer ways to connect eligible users to Bookshare’s extensive collection
Fewer disconnected steps between discovery, access and support
A stronger, more visible role for libraries in facilitating access to trusted accessibility services

By aligning accessible content with existing systems and workflows, libraries can reduce friction for users while delivering more inclusive, responsive services.

Supporting accessibility across the broader content ecosystem

Accessibility is most effective when it begins early in the content lifecycle. In addition to library-facing improvements, this collaboration recognizes the importance of the broader publisher, library and technology ecosystem in advancing accessibility at scale.

Clarivate and Benetech are increasing awareness of accessibility best practices by helping content partners better understand the value of early-stage accessibility and born-accessible workflows. Over time, we envision that this ecosystem-level engagement will support stronger accessibility outcomes for libraries, publishers and the communities they serve.

Ongoing commitment

This collaboration reflects a shared belief that accessibility is a set of choices made repeatedly, across systems, teams, and partners. By combining Benetech’s accessibility leadership with Clarivate’s platforms, content partnerships and global reach, we are focused on delivering meaningful, scalable improvements that help academic and public libraries serve all users more effectively.

Learn more about our ongoing commitment to accessibility.

This communication may include forward-looking statements regarding potential collaboration outcomes. Actual results may differ and no commitment is made regarding future product features or performance.

Librarians