Following the announcement in 2021 of the collaboration between Casalini Libri and Fondazione LIA, we are now delighted to report that the Torrossa web platform has been made accessibile, in conformity with internationally recognized requirements for rendering Web content and reading solutions as accessible as possible for people with disabilities.

Michele Casalini, CEO of Casalini Libri, commented:

 “The first year of work with the Fondazione LIA has been a success. As the dissemination of culture has always been at the very centre of our mission, we are glad to be able to offer functionalities to facilitate and support access to academic research for blind, visually impaired and dyslexic users. We are grateful to the Fondazione LIA for sharing their knowledge and expertise.”

Torrossa is compatible with the most recent versions of principal browsers and screen readers; in addition, Casalini Libri is also working to implement a new content reader, based on an open-source solution of the Readium LCP, to further facilitate accessible reading for e-content. An additional objective is to make it possible for alternative descriptions of the images in the titles to be read in line with the text, using the screen-reader.

Cristina Mussinelli, Secretary General of the Fondazione LIA, underlined the importance of accessibility in the digital context and praised Casalini Libri for its efforts:

“Enabling everyone to access and read, without distinctions, requires the commitment not only of publishers and content producers, but also of every other actor in the information chain. Casalini Libri’s foresight and its dedication to ensuring the accessibility of its platform is an important factor in promoting, supporting and building an increasingly accessible publishing ecosystem in collaboration with Italian and international realities.”

Torrossa currently hosts more than 600,000 digital editions in PDF format, published by over 430 publishers and with varying levels of accessibility. The aim of Casalini Libri is to progressively extend the compliance with accessibility standards of the publications distributed, promoting synergies with publishers and working towards the native publication of new digital contents in an accessible way, according to the availability of each individual catalogue.

Full details are available online, at the accessible and constantly updated web page: www.torrossa.com/en/accessibility-torrossa.html.