Bibliothèque Sonore Romande expands civic participation with ElevenLabs

Bibliothèque Sonore Romande (BSR) was founded in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1976 with a single goal - ensure that people who cannot read printed text can still access books and knowledge.

They serve blind, visually impaired, and reading-disabled audiences across the French-speaking world, with a catalog of more than 38,000 titles.

BSR operates with a team of 10 people, supported by a large network of volunteers and funded through public subsidies and private donations. As a non-profit foundation, every franc saved on production goes directly back into accessibility.

How ElevenLabs is used

BSR uses ElevenLabs Studio to produce audiobooks from EPUB files in French.

Over the past year, this has enabled:

• 20 full audiobooks.
• 11 issues of local magazines.
• 10 official Swiss public voting guides.

Where ElevenLabs makes a difference

Feedback from subscribers and professional partners has been consistent - the quality is comparable to human narration.

As one listener put it: "We would never have believed this level of quality would be available so soon."

This level of quality expands what can be produced, especially in cases where traditional workflows fall short.

Time-sensitive content

Some materials require fast turnaround. Swiss public voting guides have legal deadlines, and educators often request books with little notice.

With ElevenLabs, production timelines are reduced from weeks to days, making it possible to deliver critical information on time.

Difficult-to-produce content

Other materials are consistently underserved due to the nature of the content:

• Long legal texts.
• Technical documents.
• Repetitive or low-demand publications.

These are difficult to assign to volunteer narrators. With ElevenLabs, they can be produced reliably, with consistent quality and no fatigue constraints.

You can listen to samples here:
https://www.bibliothequesonore.ch/rechercheBSR/lecteur/Voxia

What comes next

BSR is expanding its catalog by combining volunteer-led production with AI-generated titles.

Volunteers already produce around 800 titles each year. With ElevenLabs, access to books and essential information is no longer constrained by narrator availability.

This ensures that more people can access not just literature, but also the information they need to participate fully in society.

Learn more

If your nonprofit organization could benefit from ElevenLabs technology, check out our Impact Program page for more information about how to apply.