[bksvol-discuss] Re: Are volunteers really that important anymore?

  • From: Rogerbailey81@xxxxxxx
  • To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:19:52 EDT

I think anyone on a pubic radio would sound crotchetty. (Pun intended.)

                                                                  "Can a 
nation be free if it oppresses other nations? It cannot." Vladimir Lenin     

                 The Militant: http://www.themilitant.com Pathfinder Press: 
http://www.pathfinderpress.com
Granma International: http://granma.cu/ingles/index.html
                 _

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[bksvol-discuss] Re: Are volunteers really that important anymore?   
Date: 
8/27/2009 11:28:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time  
From: 
rixmix2009@xxxxxxxxx  
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I think that volunteering at Bookshare has so many valuable aspects to it.
And I really agree with what E. has just said.  Thanks to you, E., for 
volunteering. And many thanks to all of you. I am amazed at how much time 
some of you put into this effort. And I really agree also with Cindy the 
books we have been scanning and getting into the collection are very 
important, for their good quality, and for the types of books that are 
coming in.

I view this volunteering as sort of a co-op. Having been a working member 
for many years at a food co-op, the Bookshare experience reminds me of 
that. 
There I would work so many hours in a department that I felt I could best 
contribute, and I would get discounts on my purchases, and have an 
extraordinary exchange with other members at the co-op on the products we 
carried, and and on various health and nutrition things, etc.  And with 
Bookshare, it is very similar. I have learned very much, and it has much 
fed 
my hunger for good reading.

So Bon Appetit.  And I say, keep on volunteering, ye mighty seaworthy crew 
of word mongers and verbivores.

Now, having said that word, verbivore, I feel compelled to tell you how I 
came upon it.
Maybe you have heard Chrysti the Wordsmith on your pubic radio station?
Well, Chrysti is our friend and fellow radio companion here in Bozeman and 
her program is produced at our KGLT studios.
Visit her website to learn more at this link:
http://wordsmithradio.org/

It is a nice 2-minute ride, and a reminder of things we like to know but 
did 
not really maybe know we wanted to know about the words we use so much.

Rik James

--------------------------------------------------
From: "E." <thoth93@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, August 27, 2009 2:36 AM
To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Are volunteers really that important  
anymore?

Roger, I am going to answer this inquiry with the thought it deserves.
Let me start by saying I began volunteering in the early days of bookshare.
You and I agree on some points.
First, bookshare certainly has changed over time.
Bookshare received a grant from the Department of Education several
years ago and began to work more actively with paid outsourcers and
with publishers directly. Some of that came about because of the
grant. Some of it came about as bookshare found these to be new ways
for the collection to grow.
Grow it certainly did.
The list which bookshare has just provided which shows what
outsourcers are doing and future lists which show what publishers are
doing are important links.
They help us volunteers avoid duplicating work or avoid spending
money when books are somewhere in the pipeline.
The lists point up something else though.
They point up what volunteers truly can contribute.
We can contribute books which bookshare has not given to outsourcers.
We can contribute books which publishers may be unwilling to give us
themselves.
Most importantly, those books will add our personal twists to the 
collection.
Volunteers are the people who actually read bookshare books. We work
on books which go into the general collection and read books for
pleasure which exist in the collection.
So volunteers are in a unique position to provide feedback about the
system. How well is the scanning and proofing being done? How well
does the braille translator work? All kinds of necessary feedback
simply will be lost if there are no more volunteers.
Our roles may change as bookshare evolves.
Those roles have already changed in the over seven years I have been
a volunteer.
Together staff, volunteers and bookshare will keep each other honest
and growing. We have created something amazing here.
So much better than reading books on seven inch open tape reels like
I did thirty years ago.
E.
Elizabeth

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