TPB invited other talking book libraries and organizations to form an international
consortium for promotion of a new digital talking book standard, based on the DAISY
concept. In May 1996 in Stockholm the DAISY Consortium was founded.
The initial members were:
- The Japanese Association of Libraries for the Blind
- The Spanish National Organization of the Blind, O.N.C.E.
- Royal National Institution for the Blind, RNIB (United Kingdom)
- Swiss Library for the Blind and Visually Impaired, SBS
- The Dutch Library for Visually and Print Handicapped Students and Professionals, SVB
- The Swedish Library of Talking Books and Braille, TPB together with The Swedish
Association of the Visually Impaired, SRF.
At the Stockholm meeting an agreement was formed and Ingar Beckman Hirschfeldt, TPB,
was elected chairman of the DAISY Consortium.
The objectives of the consortium were set to:
- Establish the DAISY concept as a de facto standard for digital talking books for the print
impaired and for commercial audio books.
- Manage the project, develop appropriate tools and systems and promote the concept.
- Manage the use and licensing of the DAISY concept and properties to
maximize the
benefit to print impaired people.