I ask you folks to note the dates when the messages were posted. For those
of you relatively new to the list, Jesse was the person who worked with
volunteers before Marisa. Marisa was with us before John. The list hence
bears her name in honor of the truly special co-operating we achieved with
her as staff liaison.
E.
Date: Sat, 2 Jul 2005 17:18:50 -0400 (EDT) From: Mike Pietruk <pietruk@xxxxxxxxx> To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Validating Books
as a lot of folks have asked for them, here are the ones I have saved as posted by Jesse Fahenstock back in Aug of 2004. The only addition to the list, as of April 1, is that the book must have page breaks. Note the phrasing "must have page breaks" which doesn't tell you that they must have all of them, but they must have some.
So here is Jesse's msg to the group:
Hi everyone -- I have recently received many emails from volunteers confused about whether they must reject a book or not. I think the higher standards maintained by many members in this group have confused people. Therefore, I will restate, as I did on Monday, what a book must have to be accepted:
1. The book is not already on Bookshare.org, or if it is, that it is being submitted as a superior replacement or transcribed Braille copy.
2. The book is not an eBook acquired under proprietary agreement (e.g. a commercial eBook, a book from WebBraille, etc.)
3. The copyright name and date are included.
4. The title and author are included somewhere in the book.
5. The book is not missing multiple pages of core content (core content does not include tables of contents, indeces, picture pages, or other front or back matter and the like).
6. The book is readable.
If a book meets all of these requirements, you may absolutely accept the book. Indeed, I encourage it. If the book is missing page numbers, or has running headers, or the table of contents is jumbled, or the title page is missing (but the above info is still available), those are not bases for rejecting the book.
I predict that many volunteers will post follow-up messages regarding other things that they do, and think that you should do, before approving a book. That is because we have the most dedicated volunteers in the world, and they go above and beyond the call of duty. But even they know that while they may do additional work to improve a book that meets the above six requirements, they should not reject a book that meets them all. So whatever the follow-up messages say, remember that this message is the bottom line!
I hope that clears it up for everyone!
________________________
Jesse Fahnestock Collection Development Coordinator, Bookshare.org www.bookshare.org
A Project of The Benetech Initiative - Technology Serving Humanity 480 S. California Ave., Suite 201 Palo Alto, CA 94306-1609 USA (650)475-5440 x133 (650) 475-1066 FAX jesse@xxxxxxxxxxxx www.benetech.org
To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx put the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line. To get a list of available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the subject line.
