Hi Lorie and All, I now have been volunteering for Bookshare now going on gosh, six years or maybe six and a half, will be in November anyway. I have always been a giving person and loved volunteering but like all of you finding something that I could volunteer at, and something I could do well was difficult to almost impossible to find until I went to college. That is when the world opened up. I did a lot of things in those years I never dreamed I could. I discovered bookshare, well I think from a list serv I was on at that point and decided to poke around it for curiosity. I saw a couple of books that were requested that I had sitting on my hard drive, had scanned them for school, and wrote Jessie at the time how to submit them. That was 940 books ago. And both have been replaced, thank goodness, as my scans were pretty bad back then. One thing that I have truly loved, is that volunteering for me, is also a way to show people what I am capable of. All the volunteering I have done in the past did not pay me a thing, but... I was able to acrew the ammount of experience I needed to get my present job! I love giving back, finding new authors, and I am one of those people who enjoys scanning, but really doesn't like validating, so am really happy you all are willing to do it. Smile. Here is to many more years with Bookshare. P.S. I also never paid Bookshare for a membership, every year, at first because I didn't have the money, and now because I have so many credits. That doesn't mean I don't send books in, or buy books to scan. My parents would say I have way to many books, smile, but ah what do they know, smile wink. Shelley L. Rhodes, M.A., VRT And Guinevere: Golden Lady Guide Dog guidinggolden@xxxxxxxxx Guide Dogs for the Blind Alumni Association www.guidedogs.com ----- Original Message ----- From: Lori Castner To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Saturday, August 09, 2008 1:48 PM Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Volunteering for Bookshare Hi, Folks, Recent discussions on this list have caused me to think a lot about why I volunteer for Bookshare. However, without considering these discussions, i.e., whether volunteering will continue change or be the same in the future, I want to share my own experience here for those who might be interested. A year and a half ago, I purchased my husband Mike a membership to Bookshare because he was becoming bored with books from NLS. Although we have a friend who validates books for Bookshare, that activity seemed very abstract to me, and I simply wanted to get Mike a source of new books. He had been looking for a volunteer activity in the community with little success, so he began validating books and absolutely loved the activity. Because of his enthusiasm, I purchased a bookshare membership to get books to read, but primarily to validate books. And I enjoyed validating almost as much as he did. For us, bookshare is not so much a place to get reading material--although I have read a fair number of books and have many as yet unread on my computer and bookport and Mike has read very few books, but rather a way to give back, a way to give to others. Sure, we can still scan books just for us to read, but that process now seems incomplete, because Bookshare has provided a way for us to share those books with others who would not find them through other sources. Also, validating books so that they can become part of a larger collection and be available for others to read is unexpressibly rewarding. I used to knit items for three different charitable organizations, but since developing arthritis in my thumbs I can no longer contribute very much in that way. I also write poetry, but very few benefit from my poems at this time. If we had not discovered the joy of volunteering for Bookshare, Mike might still be looking for a gratifying volunteer activity, which for a blind person can be as difficult as finding a fulfilling job. And, I might be wondering how to give back to the world. Sure, without volunteering for bookshare, we would have time to read more books, but that is only partially rewarding and fulfilling. We might spend more time with friends, but many of them work days and have most evenings filled with family, errands, etc. But without the fulfillment of giving back to others through volunteering for Bookshare, our lives would be less rich, less fulfilled, and less meaningful. I speak only for myself although I am sure I am sharing a common feeling. Thanks! Bookshare! Cat Lover Lori P.S. and I would have more time to play with and pamper our cat who now sits in our den and watches us contribute to the world!