[bksvol-discuss] Re: advocating for individual titles to publishers and authors
- From: Kelly Pierce <kkellyp@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 18:19:16 -0600
Dean,
All of the books people sought to scan in recent weeks where I
suggested contacting a publisher or author have not been from big,
brand name publishers, such as those you have mentioned. If I don’t
recognize the name, I still consider an entity a major publisher if it
has international offices, multiple locations throughout the United
States or multiple divisions or publishing names. At this point, I
trust robin and Bookshare staff have attempted to establish
relationships with these large organizations. For a number of
different reasons, some have cooperated and others have not at this
time. I don’t bother even contemplating asking these kinds of
publishers because I trust they already have been asked. For those
publishers and authors that currently partner with Bookshare, staff
has said in the past that it generally is not possible to request a
title from a publisher. They have already provided what they intend to
deliver to us. Yet, there are many thousands of smaller publishers
that haven’t thought of the accessibility of the books they produce or
have been suggested an easy and relatively cost free means to get this
done. It is these publishers that I have approached and suggested
others do the same.
Many authors have an online presence of some kind with websites,
Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, or other public contact information. If
the author can be found in a simple Google search with an electronic
contact, I send them my model letter. If not, I forget it, and start
scanning.
I have never suggested to a publisher or author that a single title
should be accessible. While I expressed particular interest in a
particular title, I always request full accessibility of all titles.
Otherwise, raising the issue of access to a single title doesn’t solve
the problem of accessibility and isn’t worth the time invested.
When I began my day job in 1994 working with victims with disabilities
in the criminal justice system at a prosecutor’s office, I became
quite aware of my role in the community as service provider. It is
very important to my employer to establish and maintain positive
relationships with various community leaders, institutions, and
governmental departments. At first, some embraced fully the notion of
including people with disabilities into their efforts and wanted
ideas, strategies, advice, solutions and resources on how to do this.
Others were unreceptive and sometimes downright hostile. In
establishing and fostering these relationships, it is impossible to be
an advocate. Instead, it is extremely important to be a diplomat, a
totally different skillset. By its nature, advocacy is confrontive
and highly focused on a specific goal. That’s hardly a recipe for
success in establishing enduring relationships where the qualities of
openness, receptivity, flexibility and meeting folks where they are at
are essential. This is why service providers, including Bookshare,
can’t be advocates, except to advocate for their continued operation
with funders.
I hope this answers your questions Dean and I welcome additional thoughts.
Kelly
On 2/13/12, Ixchel Larrauri <starsandhearts2@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Hi Jamie,
> I use facebook and it is pretty accessible. Of course, I have no sight.
> Jackie
>
> --
>
>
> du ut de
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