Julie, we've been told repeatedly for years that it's fine for a volunteer to send an image of a page of the book directly to a sighted volunteer so that the sighted volunteer can help figure out a problem in an rtf file being proofread that originated in the OCRing of the scanned page.
Is that or is that not acceptable? Similarly, if a page is missing from the book, how does a volunteer who is proofreading the book get the rtf for that page? As of today, the bookshare volunteer manual says:"If there are problems with the book, volunteers have the option of obtaining a copy of the same book and fixing them or trying to get in touch with the submitter who may still have a hard copy of the book. If it is not possible to obtain the book, then volunteers on the Volunteer Discussion List are usually more than happy to help find the book and rescan one or two pages for someone." (url: https://wiki.benetech.org/display/BSO/4.+Proofreading+a+Book )
That's scanning and sharing a part of a book, which your directive says is illegal.
So what is and is not acceptable? I feel like we're being told at the same time that it is OK and yet it is not OK to do this!
We need to know what's correct and allowed. Judy s. Julie Carpenter wrote:
Hello All -Bookshare Management has been made aware of ongoing concerns related to sharing RTF files. Discussion surrounding this topic within the volunteer community seems to be: if the book is not yet in Bookshare’s collection or under direct supervision of Bookshare, it is fine to distribute among the volunteer community to solicit help with proofing. It is illegal and unethical to send parts or wholes of books to other individuals over the internet without explicit permission from the copyright holder. Bookshare cannot emphasize this enough. It is impermissible for Bookshare volunteers to violate copyright.From Bookshare’s volunteer agreement: “If a copyright violation occurs that is traced to me, Bookshare will discontinue my account. I acknowledge that violations of copyright law and the terms of this agreement may subject me and other people committing such violations to civil and criminal liability, and that Bookshare will cooperate with copyright holders on investigations of such violations. If I violate the terms of this agreement, Bookshare may unilaterally and immediately terminate this agreement by written or email notice to me.”We value greatly all of the hard work and loyalty our volunteers donate to make our organization productive and successful. However, to maintain our position in the field of accessible books, it is crucial that our volunteer community adhere strictly to the rules of copyright, and avoid at all cost, any violation thereof.Thank you, Julie Carpenter Collection Development Manager Bookshare
To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx put 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.
