Hi, Rachel,
First, thanks for your efforts at validation. I sure commend you for
getting in there and working with this stuff; it's never easy, and
sometimes it's almost agonizing--wondering what to do and how to proceed.
Since I didn't see the actual text you worked on, I'm hesitant to pass
judgment on your decisions--except you did ask what we would have done. I
have to tell you that if words were missing, and if that were happening
pretty regularly, I'd probably have rejected the book. Why? Well, mostly
cause I actually enjoy the editing process. Additionally, because I've
been at the other end of this--I've scanned books and taken far more time
with them because I knew they would be Bookshare submissions than I would
have if I had just intended to keep the book to myself, read it, and move on.
We need to migrate to a position with Bookshare where we raise the bar on
quality. I realize that the books I've submitted aren't perfect; and the
validators who have been kind enough to look at my work would agree with
that. But that said, I have to tell you, if words had been missing from my
scans on a consistent basis, I would have hoped those validators would have
rejected my books.
Do I think you made a bad decision? Not necessarily. And by all means,
don't spend too much time questioning your competence as a validator. Read
this list; ask questions as you have; and you'll learn much both about
doing better scans and feeling increasingly confident in your validations.
Eventually, someone may decide the book will need to be rescanned,
resubmitted, and revalidated. Unlike the printed word, nothing we do here
is absolutely cast in indelible ink--and that includes our mistakes,
fortunately. Better software can make for cleaner scans; and the more you
validate, the more confident you'll feel about doing it.
Kindest Regards,
Nolan
