[bksvol-discuss] Re: Requirements for acceptance -- the bottom line
- From: "Sarah Van Oosterwijck" <curiousentity@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 13 Aug 2004 17:45:28 -0500
Great Idea. i have heard of so many sites that match volunteers with
organizations that could use them, but of course i never remember them after
I finish reading the articles they are mentioned in. I should do some
looking for those sites, and others could as well. I think a bookshare
staff member might have to write up something or contact those sites to get
on their lists after that.
I have to admit that sometimes I didn't want to explain to librarians what I
was doing because some people over react before they hear the hole story and
all the facts about the copyright law exemption, and also might feel that I
could damage their books, because they don't know me enough to know that I
practically view library books as sacred. :-)
Sarah Van Oosterwijck
curious entity at earthlink dot net
----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard Ely" <ely.r@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, August 13, 2004 5:03 PM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Requirements for acceptance -- the bottom line
> Ah,
> There in lies the rub. That old #6. One readers notion of readable is
another's of execrable. Much
> has to do with two things, how badly do you want to read the text and how
many errors are you
> willing to accept. It is wonderful seeing the care and concern that most
on this list give to a text
> they are submitting or approving. As a teacher with students who use these
books, I wish they were
> all letter perfect. I think that such will be the case someday. For now,
it seems we must accept a
> less than ideal, but only three years ago, none of this awful problem even
existed. No books, no
> problem!
>
> What does seem to be the case is the need for more volunteers to help in
validating books. In the
> days before electronic Braille production, there were thousands of
volunteers across the country who
> had passed their transcribers certification and who banged away at their
Perkins braillers at home
> cranking out books. Seems that there are many more computer literate
retirees then ever. They do not
> need to learn the Braille code to make books available. For the most part,
all they need is the
> skills that many already have, proof reading and word processing. What we
need to do is to find
> better ways to let people know what they might do in a few hours each week
at their own computers. I
> am giving thought to donating the computer I am composing on to our local
library for the specific
> task of providing a computer to volunteers in our little town to use to
validate books. If Deb the
> librarian agrees, I hope to start doing regular small group classes on how
to validate. What if
> there were say 500 other libraries offering something similar. At the rate
of one book per day, five
> days per week each library would validate 260 books. At capacity, such an
effort could validate
> 130,000 books per year. That might go a long way in cleaning up that
backlog of texts awaiting
> valedation.
>
> Rather than picking the nits of weather or not a submitted book is good
enough to accept, let's work
> at increasing the numbers of validators, and the access points they need
to do validation.
> Rick
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jesse Fahnestock" <Jesse.F@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Friday, August 13, 2004 5:10 PM
> Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Requirements for acceptance -- the bottom line
>
>
> > 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
> >
>
>
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