<p>The Book Industry Study Group has launched a pair of surveys designed to generate the first systematic picture of how the US publishing supply chain is actually performing on accessibility — a question that has taken on new urgency as two major regulatory deadlines converge. The European Accessibility Act came into effect in June 2025, requiring digital products sold in the EU to meet accessibility standards. Updates to Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act are scheduled to take effect in April 2026, extending accessibility requirements to a broad range of digital content. The BISG Accessibility Working Group, which has been coordinating industry guidance since its establishment in July 2023, is using the surveys to identify where the gaps between regulatory requirement and operational reality are largest.</p><p>The two surveys are structured to capture the supply chain from both ends. The first targets creators — publishers and vendors who produce digital content and accessibility metadata — and focuses on early-stage production decisions that determine whether a title can be made accessible downstream. The second targets recipients — distributors, retailers, aggregators, and libraries — who receive, manage, and deliver accessible content to end users. By gathering data from both sides of the exchange simultaneously, BISG is attempting to map not just individual organisations' readiness but the friction points that arise when creator and recipient workflows are misaligned. Each survey takes approximately ten minutes to complete, and results will be reported in aggregate.</p><p>The framing of the surveys reflects a sophisticated understanding of why accessibility compliance has been so uneven across the industry. Accessible publishing is not a problem that any single organisation can solve in isolation: a publisher can produce a fully accessible EPUB, but if the distributor's systems strip accessibility metadata or the retailer's storefront cannot surface it, the reader with a disability still cannot find or use the content. The BISG surveys are designed to expose exactly these systemic disconnects — the places where responsibility falls between organisations and where guidance, tools, or coordination would have the greatest impact. Survey responses will inform BISG's future standards work and the practical resources it develops for the industry.</p><p>The timing is significant. The Accessibility Working Group is scheduled to conclude its formal meetings in May 2026, after which accessibility initiatives will continue within BISG's broader committee structure. The surveys are, in part, a way of ensuring that the working group's final phase produces actionable intelligence rather than general principles. The data gathered will help BISG prioritise where to focus its remaining institutional attention — whether on metadata standards, procurement processes, library discoverability, or the technical specifications that govern accessible format production. For an industry that has historically treated accessibility as a compliance checkbox rather than a reader-service imperative, the surveys represent a more rigorous accounting.</p><p>The broader context is one of accelerating regulatory pressure. The EAA's June 2025 implementation date has already forced European publishers and their international partners to confront accessibility requirements in concrete operational terms. The April 2026 ADA Title II update will extend similar pressure to US-facing digital content. Publishers and distributors that have not yet mapped their accessibility workflows against these requirements face a narrowing window for remediation. BISG's surveys offer a low-cost opportunity to contribute to industry-wide intelligence while simultaneously prompting organisations to assess their own readiness — a combination that, if the response rate is sufficient, could produce the most comprehensive picture of publishing accessibility compliance yet assembled.</p>