Hi, Shelley. I know exactly what you're saying! I often went to libraries with my classes for various projects and I remember being so depressed because I couldn't read all the books I saw on the shelves! Now, I can't seem to get enough, and I love it. I have more books than I'll ever read in a lifetime, but I love it, anyway, and read what I can and just look with anticipation at the rest I haven't read yet. It's wonderful now to have more than I could ever possibly read instead of usually not having enough. Take care. Julie Morales inlovewithchrist@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Windows/MSN Messenger (but not email): mercy0421@xxxxxxxxxxx Skype: mercy0421 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Shelley L. Rhodes" <juddysbuddy@xxxxxxxxxxxx> To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Tuesday, July 12, 2005 8:12 PM Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Scannin g That is how I feel Mike. I remember those days, not that long ago, maybe eight years, ago, when I would stand and stare at the children's library and wish, that I had a way to read all those "big books". Smile. And now that I have the technology and the knowledge I want to put it to good use. I usually scan books I want to read so they get edited as I read them , but sometimes I scan something for the site only. In those cases then I just scan it, do the best scan I can and put it up for others to check out and see if they are interested which they usually are. I don't find the time to be too consuming, and hope that my work can benefit someone else, even if it is a few years from now. I consider that Rome wasn't built in a day, smile, and it is truly awesome to see over 23,000 titles on a site that I have seen grow from before it went live. Besides this is a "mission" or volunteer project that I can do without much help and get quite a bit of satisfaction out of. Smile. It is quite an exciting thing to see. Shelley L. Rhodes and Judson, guiding golden juddysbuddy@xxxxxxxxxxxx Guide Dogs For the Blind Inc. Graduate Advisory Council www.guidedogs.com The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps - we must step up the stairs. -- Vance Havner ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Pietruk" <pietruk@xxxxxxxxx> To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Tuesday, July 12, 2005 5:04 PM Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Scannin g Patti I hold all books I scan -- be they hard cover, paperback, or in between -- firmly against the scanner's glass when scanning. And as I intend submitting books to BookShare, that is my first reason in scanning them, I read, edit, rescan pages, spellcheck, and all the rest as part of the process. Sure, it slows things down; sure, it takes a lot of time. Sure, it can get aggravating at times. Sure, sometimes, I fail and end up with something less than ideal. Is it worth it? That's a matter of personal judgment. But good things tend to take an effort. And if you think that the process is slow, consider how long it took a Middle Ages monk to hand copy manuscripts for preservation. Think how long it takes a modern age Braille transcriber to produce hand-copied Braille books. Consider how long it takes -- including prep time -- for a Talking Book narrator to record a finely sounding book. When looked in those terms, that time isn't so great. And if the book makes a collection such as BookShare, where others can benefit from the book, think how much time you might save others in not them having to scan the book themselves. It's all a matter of perspective and priorities, I guess. And there is no right or wrong answer as this is subjective. -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.323 / Virus Database: 267.8.12/46 - Release Date: 7/11/2005