Hey, Librarians, Can You Help (Save Reading Rights for the Blind)?

I know at least a few librarians read this blog and since our government is currently attempting to poison your pool I'm hoping you can make some noise that elected officials can hear.

Cory Doctorow has a commentary up at Boingboing on a story posted by Jim Fruchterman at HuffPo about the US's abominable behavior in negotiating something colloquially called "The Treaty for the Blind."

The core idea of this treaty is that people who can't read print or access printed books would be allowed to get some kinds of access for things like education, employment, and so on. The US is actually pretty good about this but for some reason (*cough*money*cough*) the Administration is going about poisoning this treaty so it can't benefit people outside the country but will enrich the MPAA.

Here's the money quote:

[The treaty now says, i]f a book is commercially available in an accessible format, it can't be provided by a library to a person with a disability. This is equivalent to walking into a public library and finding padlocks on all the books with a note that says: "If you want to read it, buy it."

That's not right and it's something I don't think librarians should be silent about. Librarians here in the US have generally been pretty awesome about helping people get access to information - despite frequent official machinations to the contrary - and I'm willing to bet you care about the same principles outside our country's borders. In particular I'm hoping you share my belief that it's wrong for our administration to be forcing lockdowns on libraries in the name of corporate profits.

So if you do feel this is worthwhile please publicize this story to your colleagues. Put it on your boards and mailing lists and start discussions. Support the World Blind Union, and let the White House know how you feel.