Aptara and VitalSource Make Publishers’ Digital Content Accessible to Readers with Disabilities

Falls Church, Va.-based digital publishing solutions provider Aptara has partnered with VitalSource, an Ingram Content Company, to make publishers’ content accessible to readers with disabilities. By providing content development and conversion services that now include tagging specifically for Section 508 of the Federal Accessibility Guidelines, Aptara’s publishing customers can utilize VitalSource’s new Bookshelf e-textbook platform.

The new platform includes accessibility features that enable the downloading and viewing of content online and/or on mobile devices. Aptara already has partnered with publishers such as Wiley, Elsevier, McGraw-Hill and SAGE to produce or convert highly illustrative and technical content in the VitalBook format.

“As a long-term, trusted VitalSource partner, we are pleased to have Aptara’s support in meeting the needs of a population that is too often underserved in today’s digital world,” says William Chesser, vice president and general manager of VitalSource. “Aptara’s origins in the STM and educational publishing markets, and their structured content and e-book production expertise, [are] ushering publishers into the digital age in as hassle-free a manner as possible.”

“Accessibility has been a difficult issue for many e-book implementations to date,” says Dev Ganesan, president and CEO of Aptara. “So VitalSource’s new release is an exciting step forward, particularly for the education publishing community. The VitalBook downloadable digital format offers our publishing customers two key benefits in high demand these days: simplicity and control. From simple product management and distribution, including a private-labeled eBookstore, to giving publishers complete control over their digital strategy and making complicated DRM issues obsolete, VitalSource gives publishers the freedom to sell digital titles through whatever channels and under whatever terms they choose; plus, enabling them to now meet critical 508 compliance regulations."

Beginning immediately, Aptara’s services will include special mathematics and “alt tag” additions that take advantage of VitalSource’s new accessibility capabilities. Taking source file formats ranging from PDF, InDesign and Quark, to Microsoft Word, Aptara outputs products directly into the VitalBook (.vbk) format, with accessibility tagging now built-in.