The Marrakesh Treaty for persons with print disabilities creates an unprecedented opportunity for enabling access to printed works for people with print disabilities.

Libraries play a key role in facilitating access, and the Getting Started guide was conceived to enable staff in libraries of all types to take practical steps on how to start using the Marrakesh Treaty, and to deliver materials into the hands of print-disabled readers.

On 22 October 2020, the Marrakesh Treaty came into effect in Belarus. Now libraries can start using the treaty, and can send and receive accessible format materials from other Marrakesh countries. This Belarussian edition of the Getting Started guide, adapted for local law, is based on the international version of the guide published in 2018. 

The Belarusian edition was prepared by Sania Battalova, EIFL Marrakesh Regional Coordinator, Saint-Petersburg State Library for the Blind and Visually Impaired, and Elena Dolgopolova, First Deputy General, National Library of Belarus. 

The guide is jointly published by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), the World Blind Union (WBU), EIFL, the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL), and the University of Toronto Scarborough.

Read about EIFL’s work advocating for the Marrakesh Treaty.