The entry of these new members further strengthens LIA’s international positioning, confirming its key role as a reference in promoting accessibility throughout the publishing value chain and building a shared culture on technological innovation and inclusion.
Since its creation by the Italian Publishers Association (AIE) and the Italian Union of the Blind and Visually Impaired (UICI) in 2014, Fondazione LIA has built its identity by valuing collaboration with other entities, institutions and qualified partners, activating synergies with key players to advance technologically advanced projects with high social impact. The entry of EDItEUR, STM Association and BISG represents a further step in this direction, confirming the Foundation’s willingness to expand its network and share good practices globally.
Cristina Mussinelli, Secretary General of LIA, said that “The entry of these three prestigious organizations into the Foundation network is an important signal: it shows that the work we carry out to promote accessible publishing is internationally recognized and shared by key players in the field. Together, we can help build a publishing ecosystem that is increasingly accessible and capable of responding to the global challenges of inclusion.”
EDItEUR is the international not-for-profit group that coordinates the development of standards for electronic commerce in the book, ebook, and audiobook sectors, particularly the ONIX standard – the most widely-used standard for distributing metadata throughout the book supply chain – and Thema, the international, multilingual subject classification scheme. EDItEUR brings together more than 110 members in 25 countries who are committed to defining metadata, identifiers and practices for global publishing trade.
“EDItEUR has worked together with LIA since its inception, and I’m pleased to recognize and strengthen the relationship through mutual membership. LIA’s drive to improve the accessibility of digital books and other resources, and EDItEUR’s complementary work on accessibility metadata, have never been more important or more aligned”, said Graham Bell, Executive Director of EDItEUR.
STM Association is the world’s leading trade association for academic and professional publishers. With about 150 members (independent and large publishers, scholarly societies and technology innovation companies), it represents more than 60 percent of international scholarly output in English.
“STM is proud to join Fondazione LIA and its international network promoting a culture of accessibility in publishing. This partnership reinforces our commitment to inclusive publishing, ensuring that everyone, regardless of visual ability – can access and benefit from scholarly content” said Leila Jones, Chief Operating Officer of STM.
BISG is an international organization that includes publishers, editorial and production suppliers, wholesalers and distributors, libraries, retailers and other industry partners. It works to improve standards and research in the areas of metadata, rights management, production and distribution, subject management. It has over 200 organizations and 2,800 professionals and expert in publishing in 25 countries.
On joining, Brian O’Leary, Executive Director of BISG, noted: “Fondazione LIA has led the way in helping the publishing community prepare, distribute, and sell accessible content. We greatly value their contributions and look forward to even deeper collaboration.”