About the client
RNIB Bookshare is a service run by the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), the UK’s leading sight loss charity. RNIB is a force for social change, supporting blind and partially sighted people, changing public perceptions, and helping make a world that is more accessible.
RNIB believes in accessibility by default, since it’s better for everyone.
About RNIB Bookshare
Launched in 2011, RNIB Bookshare provides educational books and materials in accessible formats for students with vision impairment, dyslexia, dyspraxia, and autism that affect their ability to read educational materials in print format.
It is a vital resource for many students and teachers, promoting equal opportunities in education.
There are over 1.3 million books from 1,300 publishers available online. The service supports more than 70,000 students in over 15,000 schools, colleges and universities.
Project challenges
The RNIB Bookshare website was based on the Drupal 7 platform, which is legacy technology and needed to be replaced by January 2025.
With support from People’s Postcode Lottery, RNIB were able to invest in the sustainability of the service and develop a platform that’s fit for the future.
A key challenge was to replace this complex digital service, ensure it is fully accessible, and have a smooth transition to the new service for its users, including 70,000 students and 47,000 staff.
Multiple systems needed to be considered as part of this project; it was essential to design an architecture that worked efficiently for RNIB staff and the learners who rely on this service.
Data was an important aspect of the project. Given that many users are young students, clearly understanding where data is held and ensuring proper governance and data privacy was essential.
Collaboration
We worked with many stakeholders and external partners on this project across multiple time zones.
External teams we collaborated with included:
- Benetech, the US-based tech for good organisation who provide the API for books
- Dolphin, the Sweden-based technology company who provide the mobile app EasyReader (used by many learners to access RNIB Bookshare)
- Torchbox, the digital agency that created the RNIB Design System
We helped bridge the many technical and commercial challenges and explained with clarity how the existing system worked and what RNIB needed for the new platform.
We worked very closely with the Bookshare team at RNIB, as well as liaising with the technical teams at RNIB, and senior stakeholders to ensure the solution met their standards.
We approached the project with an open and collaborative mindset, and we had shared goals to make the RNIB Bookshare project a success.
Bookshare is incredibly well built, user-friendly, and accessible for both staff and learners, making it easy for students to find the formats that work best for them.
This independence is life-changing, giving learners with print disabilities the chance to study on a level playing field, keep up with their peers, and achieve their goals.