RAND Corporation has entered into an agreement granting Bookshare world rights to distribute its collection of more than 15,000 RAND research publications, reports, and commentary to people with print disabilities. And we think this is pretty exciting! RAND is a fascinating organization, doing some amazing work, and being able to bring their collection to our members will be especially important to our postsecondary and graduate student members.
RAND is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decision making through research and analysis. RAND focuses on issues such as health, education, national security, international affairs, law and business, the environment, and more. With a research staff consisting of some of the world’s preeminent minds, RAND has been expanding the boundaries of human knowledge for more than 60 years.
RAND research is commissioned by a global clientele that includes government agencies, foundations, and private-sector firms. RAND also funds research with philanthropic contributions from its supporters and income from operations. As a nonpartisan organization, RAND is widely respected for operating independent of political and commercial pressures.
Vice President and General Manager of the Literacy Program at Benetech, Betsy Beaumon, says: “RAND plays a significant role in providing the public with timely and well-researched information on important issues confronting our society. RAND is filling a social need through its support of equal access to printed materials. On behalf of our 100,000+ members, we welcome them as a Bookshare publishing partner.”
Jane Ryan, the Director of Publications at RAND had this to say about the agreement: “Dissemination of our research findings, including digital distribution of our content, is a critical component of RAND’s mission. Our agreement with Bookshare means that readers with print disabilities have access to our books with greater ease and in a wider range of formats than ever before. Given our commitment to publishing peer-reviewed monographs and reports, the products of our public policy research, we are particularly pleased to make our books available in accessible formats to people with print disabilities through Bookshare.” We thank you, Jane, for agreeing to share your important collection with our Bookshare members.
This is very exciting news, especially since I am a college student taking a public policy course next semester. A lot of research in the regular library at my college is difficult to access because it is often only available in formats like PDF which Jaws sometimes has trouble reading. So when school starts, research will become much more enjoyable and fruitful for me when I can acces it in BRF, my preferred format.