Bookshare is legal in the U.S. under an amendment to the copyright law 
passed in 1996.  Full details are at:

http://www.bookshare.org/web/SupportAuthorsPublishers.html#1

That page states in part:

Is Bookshare.org legal?

Yes, under 17 U.S.C. § 121, the Chafee Amendment to U.S. Copyright Law 
passed in 1996. This law is designed to encourage nonprofits to make 
accessible versions of books available to people with disabilities. 
Bookshare.org, as a nonprofit one of whose principal purposes is to serve 
the blind and disabled, meets the requirements of the
relevant section of copyright law,
17 U.S.C. § 121:

"...it is not an infringement of copyright for an authorized entity to 
reproduce or to distribute copies... of a previously published, nondramatic 
literary
work if such copies... are reproduced or distributed in specialized formats 
exclusively for use by blind or other persons with disabilities."
Copies may not be reproduced or distributed in a format other than a 
specialized format exclusively for use by blind or other persons with 
disabilities
Must bear a notice that any further reproduction or distribution in a 
format other than a specialized format is an infringement; and
Must include a copyright notice identifying the copyright owner and the 
date of the original publication.
"Specialized formats" means Braille, audio, or digital text which is 
exclusively intended for use by blind or other persons with disabilities.



At 09:22 AM 3/26/02 -0500, you wrote:
>I'd love to know what they've done to get around the copyright problems.
>
>Paul Chapin
>Curricular Computing Specialist
>Amherst College