[bksvol-discuss] Re: book request

  • From: Valerie Maples <vlmaples@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:04:04 -0800 (PST)

Roger, Kelly, and others;

Robin Seaman, publisher liaison, does a great job contacting authors and 
publishers, advocating for donations and partnerships.  When we went to ALA in 
June, Nichole made personal appeals to dozens of publishers and authors, 
showing 
how she could read on her communication device via Bookshare.  While it gave a 
real face and solution to the problem and procured over 50 physical donations 
we 
could scan to add and almost as many publisher contacts, it takes the 
experienced back and forth to answer the legal questions to the satisfaction of 
the publishers concerns. One misstep by a volunteer or inaccurate 
representation 
could lead to serious misunderstanding and a ripple of concerns in the 
independent publishing community (major publishers are already on board or 
understand the policies for the most part).

Patience is truly a virtue in this case, IMHO.
 Valerie


----- Original Message ----
> From: Roger Loran Bailey <rogerbailey81@xxxxxxx>
> To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Sent: Tue, January 31, 2012 12:17:18 PM
> Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: book request
> 
> I thought that Bookshare prefers that we leave such contacting up to the 
> publisher liaison at Bookshare.
> 
> On 1/31/2012 12:51 PM, Kelly Pierce  wrote:
> > Ann,
> >
> > Effective immediately, I have implemented a  policy of ensuring that
> > the author and/or publisher have been approached  to donate their files
> > and partner with Bookshare before scanning a book  published in 1990 or
> > later.  I urge all others here to do the  same.
> >
> > As I started the tedious effort of scanning and  proofreading some
> > books to which I really wanted access, I began to  wonder if there were
> > a better way.  I checked and found the books  available in EPub format,
> > which Jim Fructerman says can easily be  converted into DAISY by
> > Bookshare staff and technical volunteers.   As someone who has
> > successfully advocated and created many accessible  solutions for blind
> > people during the past few decades, I have developed  a knack for
> > leveraging my skills, resources, time and energy to maximize  my
> > independence and often that of other blind people as well.  Tens  of
> > thousands of people with disabilities have benefited from my
> >  high-quality solutions that created accessible banking, accessible
> >  voting, accessible public transit for the blind, Internet access, and
> >  technology access overall. It occurred to me that the only thing that
> >  stands between me and an existing EPub book is software that Bookshare
> >  controls that turns an inaccessible e-book into something blind people
> >  and those with disabilities can read easily.
> >
> > This is why I have  adopted a policy of asking the publisher and/or
> > author to donate their  EPub books to Bookshare before I begin to scan
> > or
> > proofread a  book.  Further, publishers and authors need to hear from
> > people  with disabilities about the inaccessibility of currently
> > available  electronic texts.
> >
> > It can be surprising on how much can be  obtained just by asking. I
> > wonder why those who haven’t asked publishers  and/or authors to donate
> > their files to Bookshare feel comfortable  asking volunteers to go
> > through the tedious process of scanning and  proofreading a book that
> > is already in Epub and can be converted to  DAISY in an automated and
> > effortless process. The time available to this  pool of volunteers is
> > not limitless. Blind people and those with print  disabilities will
> > never achieve information equality without the  cooperation and support
> > of leading authors and the publishing  community.  Many are willing to
> > help. They just don’t know  how.  Let’s inform and engage.
> >
> >  Kelly
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