Dear Lora and Booksharian Friends, It sounds as if I'm taking the easy way out telling all of you that I agree with everything Lora said so eloquently. Lora, you put so much thought in your explanation of why braille readers, in particular, combine the advantages of NLS and Bookshare to enjoy the widest range of diverse, quality braille reading. I agree with you on every point and can't possibly express how we combine the strengths of both Braille book providers to avail ourselves of the best braille reading opportunities of our lives. I read NLS paper braille or web braille with confidence that it will be flawless, and turn to bookshare to satisfy my heart's desires for more particular but less mainstream interests. Like you, Lora, I am frustrated reading books with less than excellent accuracy, though I admit that never say never applies in this case. A few days ago I needed a jolt of reassurance that positive attitudes and generous spirits are plentiful so I rashly downloaded a copy of Chicken Soup for the Soul Volume 2 despite the warning that the quality was only good. As I read the preliminaries liberally spattered with scannos and junk characters, I berated myself for starting a book with the unsatisfactory good rating in the first place. Then my better nature prevailed and I read the first story and, it was truly excellent. And so were the second, third, fourth and fifth stories! Apparently the font changes, fancy formatting and italics in the title pages, contents, etc, confounded the scanning equipment, but the once the stories began, the scanner, validator, or both had the material well in hand. The ratings don't always reflect the book's quality and oh my how I've digressed. I've been keeping a silly kind of pact with myself. At any given time, I'm reading a braille book each from NLS, Bookshare and the Wisconsin Volunteer Braillists. I've also got an NLS recording on my talking book, an unabridged pro recording of a book from my local library in progress on my regular tape player and A bookshare html book in progress on my computer read by Jaws. At the same time, I'm carefully reading books I'm validating for Bookshare, at least one hard book and one easy book going at the same time. I'm reading books popular with the mainstream and quirky B list mysteries or my beloved books about Scotland, Ireland and Wales, and Tolkien. With my personal mix of Bookshare, NLS and other sources,I'm in book-lover's heaven on earth. Back to you, Lora, I've gushed and meandered, but you summed up my thoughts enthusiastically and at the same time in an orderly way. I truly found your post to be satisfying and a pleasure to read. Always with Love Lissi who pulled an all nighter last night so is too busy to proofread this post. ----- Original Message ----- From: Lora To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Tuesday, May 08, 2007 7:26 AM Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: NLS vs. Bookshare Hi Jamie, There have been many wonderful responses to your question, but I can't help but add my own. First, I use both Web Braille (an NLS service for providing flawless copies of books in Braille) and Bookshare. I wouldn't give up either. The first advantage of Bookshare for me is Braille! Every book on Bookshare is available in Braille. You get two choices: a DAISY copy that you can listen to, or a BRF file that you can put in your notetaker. I "curl up" with my Pacmate and read books in Braille. I far prefer to read books in Braille. I read quickly, and my comprehension is much higher than when I listen to a book on cassette. When listening, I am more easily distracted. NLS, on the other hand, only produces about 600 books a year in Braille. Most of their efforts for new books are directed to having them recorded on cassette. For a devoted Braille reader, this means lots of new books in a format I'm not fond of. Secondly is the issue of personal choice. If I want a book on alternative religion, or books of an adult nature, or books on role-playing games, or books on cooking Armenian food, or books on bird watching, I can scan and submit them, or find a willing volunteer to help me do so. I have a choice on what goes into the Bookshare collection. With NLS, I never have a choice. Since many of my interests are off the wall, I'd never find books at NLS to satisfy them. third is the immediacy of it all. So I noticed that the newest book in the Dresden Files series was added to the collection last night. I downloaded it, added it to my Pacmate, and now I can read it whenever I'm ready: on the bus, while waiting for an appointment, wherever I have downtime. Beyond that, immediacy also means that if I want a recently published book added to the collection, I can buy it like everyone else, on the day it is released, scan it, and submit it, and it's added. I get very frustrated by the delays in getting the next book in a series from NLS. And NLS has countless series that aren't complete. For instance, you may have books 1 and 3, but not 2 or 4. If I read a series, I want to read them in order. I can't really speak to cost of membership. At this point, $50 is something I can afford every year. In the past, when I couldn't have afforded it all at once, I would have saved up for it, because I would have felt that it was worth it. The average paperback seems to go for about $7 new. So the average sighted person would be able to buy 7 books in a year with the $50 we spend on Bookshare membership. And we have access to far more than that: 1200 books a year with the normal download limits, I believe. That's a little over 4 cents a book, if my math is right. I grew up with NLS, and remember countless hours listening to books on records, then cassettes. NLS will always hold a special place in my heart, for they gave me a love of reading. Bookshare, however, meets my needs as we head into the future. With NLS' government budget limitations, and the fact that it is not a member-driven collection, it cannot compete for me. To be fair, I do have one frustration with Bookshare. Books vary greatly in quality. I only download books rated Excellent, because every mistake is immediately apparent in Braille, and it's not as fun to read books when I'm mentally grumbling about the errors. Nonetheless, almost every book rated Excellent that I've downloaded has been a pleasure to read. Sorry, I didn't mean to ramble this much, but Bookshare brings it out in me. Lora ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Jamie Yates Sent: Monday, May 07, 2007 7:41 AM To: Bookshare Volunteers Subject: [bksvol-discuss] NLS vs. Bookshare My friend sent this to me and asked me to ask opinions of the Bookshare volunteers. You can email me privately if you wish offlist at jamieyates@xxxxxxxxxxx My feeling is that for $50 a year for pretty much unlimited books, Bookshare does a very valuable service. I don't know and understand completely how NLS works but from helping her with some problems I spent a long time on hold with the Cleveland library trying to sort out her NLS account (she doesn't have a Braille tty set up right now) and they were very helpful but it takes time to get a physical book in the mail. With Bookshare the access is instant. As a sighted person, I'm almost jealous! I have to drive 10 miles to the library to get the books I want. and then I can only keep them for 3 weeks. So I think Bookshare is pretty great and I tell people about it all of the time. Anyway here is what she is asking: Jamie, This is from on of my DB friends. I thought you could share with the Bookshare Volunteer list and send me any good things they have to say. (and your feelings too) a debate going on about Bookshare and National Library Service which should be providing braille readers with ANY braille book they wish to read free of charge. One member said she knew of others who could not afford to pay the $50 annual fee for Bookshare, and neither could she. Another said that she'd like to be able to curl up in a chair and read a brailled book. She's not sure how to download a book and convert it into braille. I don't know anything about how to do this. I was wondering if you could give your view on Bookshare vs NLS and what the advantages or disadvantages are. Why isn't the NLS doing what Bookshare is doing? Jamie in Michigan Currently reading: Ceremony in Death - J.D. Robb