[bksvol-discuss] Re: Update on a book & a question

  • From: Mike Pietruk <pietruk@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sat, 8 Jan 2005 22:02:26 -0500 (EST)

Reggie

I dug out a msg Jesse Fahnestock posted back on Aug 13 which discusses the 
issue of validation requirements.
Anything done in addition to those is at the discretion of the validator.
The only change that will soon be required is making certain, come the end 
of March, is that each book has at least one page break.
Here is the text of Jesse's msg:


Hi everyone -- I have recently received many emails from volunteers confused 
about whether they must reject a book or not. I think the higher standards 
maintained by many members in this group have confused people. Therefore, I 
will restate, as I did on Monday, what a book must have to be accepted:

1. The book is not already on Bookshare.org, or if it is, that it is being 
submitted as a superior replacement or transcribed Braille copy.
2. The book is not an eBook acquired under proprietary agreement (e.g. a 
commercial eBook, a book from WebBraille, etc.)
3. The copyright name and date are included.
4. The title and author are included somewhere in the book.
5. The book is not missing multiple pages of core content (core content does 
not include tables of contents, indeces, picture pages, or other front or back 
matter and the like).
6. The book is readable.

If a book meets all of these requirements, you may absolutely accept the book. 
Indeed, I encourage it. If the book is missing page numbers, or has running 
headers, or the table of contents is jumbled, or the title page is missing (but 
the above info is still available), those are not bases for rejecting the book. 

I predict that many volunteers will post follow-up messages regarding other 
things that they do, and think that you should do, before approving a book. 
That is because we have the most dedicated volunteers in the world, and they go 
above and beyond the call of duty. But even they know that while they may do 
additional work to improve a book that meets the above six requirements, they 
should not reject a book that meets them all. So whatever the follow-up 
messages say, remember that this message is the bottom line!

I hope that clears it up for everyone!

________________________

Jesse Fahnestock
Collection Development Coordinator, Bookshare.org
www.bookshare.org

A Project of The Benetech Initiative - Technology Serving Humanity
480 S. California Ave., Suite 201
Palo Alto, CA 94306-1609  USA
(650)475-5440 x133
(650) 475-1066 FAX
jesse@xxxxxxxxxxxx
www.benetech.org  



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