I know at least one important job that the Bookshare Librarian does, and that is consult on so-called "edge cases," those books that have some issue that makes their addition to the collection less straightforward than it is in most cases.
I have personal experience with one example of this. As you all know, the rule is that all books must have a copyright notice in the book before it can be added to the collection. Well, I scanned a classic SF book, Star Maker, by Olaf Stapledon, originally published in 1937. The edition I scanned was published in 2008 by Dover Publications. There was no copyright notice in the book anywhere. This seemed very odd to me, so I wrote to the Rights and Permissions department at Dover. I explained why I needed to know who owned the copyright to the book, about Bookshare and the rule that every book must have a copyright notice in order to be added to the collection. The helpful person who responded checked it out and replied that Dover did indeed have the copyright to their edition of the book. I sent my correspondence to Carrie, who consulted with the Bookshare Librarian, who said that the book could be added to the collection.
This was back in November of 2009, so I don't know whether it was Amy at that time, but thanks to the Bookshare Librarian, one of my favorite Science Fiction books was able to be added to Bookshare.
Evan----- Original Message ----- From: "Courtney Stover" <liamskitten@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Monday, March 28, 2011 12:31 AM Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Categories
Amy, I, for one, would be very interested indeed in your daily routine for Bookshare. In consideration for the rest of the list, feel free to Carbon Copy me on your E-mail to Sue; liamskitten@xxxxxxxxxx I'm someone whose utterly fascinated by the daily minutia of a library, and that goes double for one working in such a large/complex structure as Bookshare and its servers. Courtney On 3/27/11, Amy McNeely <amym@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:Hi Sue, Gary, and everyone else, I can make recommendations, but that doesn’t mean they’re implemented. I’m sorry I can’t just give you the tools you want, need and deserve. That’swhat everyone here at Bookshare wants, but different people have differentideas of how it should be done. Not everyone here sees it my way. I comestrictly from libraries, and that’s a very different place of knowing thansoftware, publishing, nonprofits, and so forth.I know it seems like nothing’s happening. If you want to put a human face onit, you can blame me. I can take it.Right now, I’m writing another recommendation. (That’s why I checked my work email on a Sunday night.) Not going to tell you what iteration I’m on. Every plan has been taken seriously by the concerned parties in the organization.(Except employing Oompa-Loompas. No one took that seriously. People say they’re creepy.) We all see a problem that needs solving. I really want to give you more weather, but I’ll keep it at the news. As for what I do all day: Sue, feel free to contact me off list and I’lltell you everything you want to know about my job, duties, reference requeststats, hobbies, BMI, etc. Don’t want to spam the list—unless the list is interested in me (because I’m so fascinating, and so beautiful, and so popular, and everyone at this school loves me so much, ad nauseum). Your pal A Amy McNeely Bookshare Librarian amy.m@xxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:amy.m@xxxxxxxxxxxx> The Benetech Initiative 480 S. California Ave. Suite 201 Palo Alto, CA 94306-1609 http://www.bookshare.org<http://www.bookshare.org/> http://www.benetech.org<http://www.benetech.org/> From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Sue Stevens Sent: Saturday, March 26, 2011 7:17 PM To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Categories I thought a librarian was supposed to categorize books, but Bookshare’slibrarian doesn’t seem to have that responsibility. In fact, I am wonderingwhat she is doing. (smile) Sue S. From: Gary Petraccaro<mailto:garyp130@xxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Friday, March 25, 2011 10:13 AM To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Subject: [bksvol-discuss] CategoriesHow come we still don't have economics, philosophy, politics, and sociologycategories available yet? ________________________________ No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com<http://www.avg.com> Version: 10.0.1204 / Virus Database: 1498/3532 - Release Date: 03/26/11To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxput 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.
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