Good point. I keep seeing all these kids books showing up on the latest books list. We're definitely being out-numbered. (smile)
Denise At 09:57 PM 5/10/2009, you wrote:
My first message on this topic was copied to volunteer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx because I would like some official clarification of this, but I suppose that we will have to wait at least until tomorrow for that. In the meantime, though, I would ask if anything but romances and erotica is classified as educational then why are romances and erotica not? It is undoubtedly true that one can learn something from virtually any book that has ever been written even if some have a lot more to teach than others, but if virtually every book that has been written can be classified as educational then the classification of educational loses its meaning. If the grant money can be spent only on educational books then it would seem, in this case, that the grant money can be spent on any book at all. If that is the case, then why is it a grant for educational books rather than a grant for just books? And still, how is a romance not educational and a book about the adventures of an elf queen in the land of the ogres is?"Philosophers have merely interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it." Karl Marxtable with 2 columns and 6 rows Subj: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Romances and grants Date: 5/10/2009 9:03:01 PM Eastern Daylight Time From: airadil@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Reply-to: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent from the Internet (Details) table end Dear Tammy,Shelley, Roger, and Booksharian Friends,Thank you, Shelley, for your lucid, experience based explanation of how it is that most books qualify for grant support at Bookshare. A good example of the popular fiction books Bookshare is scanning by the dozens is the Goosebumps series. Some kids love 'em and teachers use 'em so into the collectionthey go!Tammy, as a romance lover you're going to find plenty to read in the Bookshare collection. Bookshare isn't shunning romances, but when spending grant funds, it must follow grant guidelines from the government which supplies the money. Several active volunteers contribute quality scans and proofreadings of romances. In fact, though it isn't my favorite genre, I've scanned and proofread some romances myself.As for why Bookshare isn't encouraging donations of romances, aside for the fact that the grant doesn't supply funds for staff to process it in house,I suspect lack of space to store donated books is part of the problem. Bookshare rents office space. I've heard from staff that at times boxes of donated books have lined the walls of the conference room and they can only be stacked so high before becoming a hazard.Did you notice that the first several books on John's list of new books are romances? Bookshare and many readers welcome them. The cool thing is that we volunteers are free to submit and proof any type of book we like. I love it that we aren't bound by grant specifications.Since I'm a volunteer like you and only communicate with the staff on the rare occasions, 2 or 3 times a year, when I need information I can't get on this list, or botch information I've filled in on a form and want it corrected, I can't answer your questions officially. In my experience the staff are patient with our questions so don't hesitate to ask them the questions you asked in your post.I'll be glad to talk to you off list about your scanning and proofreading questions. When I began volunteering about three years ago, and all along since then, I learn techniques and tricks on this list and off list with helpful volunteers who enjoy sharing what they know. Like Allisa who is new and alreadygiving good advice, you'll soon be answering questions yourself. Always with love, Lissi block quote ----- Original Message ----- From: Tammy Blaker To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Sunday, May 10, 2009 9:04 AM Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Romances and grants Lissi,I don't understand , why would Romances not be covered? I love romances and lots of other women do too. If it covers SCI-FI and other fiction books then why would it not cover romance? If it is the sex in romances they should read some SCI-FI and mystery books, because sex is in lots of other books too.I scan Harlequin books and other romance all the time so I can submit them if there are proofreaders for them. I want to get the rest of Catherine Coulterbooks and scan them too.Why wont Bookshare do a training class for scanners and proofreaders like they do for Victor Reader and Read Out Loud? The manual does not give much info on what is the best fonts, how to do the best headers and how the auto computers work with the scan programs. I want the books I submit to sail throughwithout problems and would take the time to fix them so they would.I set my OCR to English UK and it is doing great now and I'm scanning 50 pages a day. I hope to get faster as I learn. Almost every romances is in UKEnglish not American.I have a question. On the book I submitted. Radha Ayalasomayajul Checkout the book and it says: Active artifact id 421897 (RFT)Then it say Radha Ayalasomayajula Checkout Active artifact id 421898 (Daisy)I understand the first Radha Ayalasomayajul is proofing my rft file of the book. But the second part does it mean she is turning it into a Daisy book so it can be checked out? Does she work for Bookshare? I'm just trying to understand the steps from my rft book file to a book that can be checked out atBookshare. Tammy block quote end **************Recession-proof vacation ideas. Find free things to do in the U.S. (http://travel.aol.com/travel-ideas/domestic/national-tourism-week?ncid=emlcntustrav00000002)
