[bksvol-discuss] Re: Are volunteers really that important anymore?
- From: "Christina" <greensleeves1@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:24:41 -0400
Agreed, Judy.
I love reading books that don't fall under any of the Bookshare grants and
the best way for me to do that is to buy them and scan them, or proof them,
for Bookshare.
Not everyone reads them but I like to think I've made at least a few people
happier because they can now read some of the really cool books I helped get
into the collection.
Plus, as an advocate for Bookshare, I can tell other people, especially
students, about how wonderful it is and talk to authors and publishers about
donating their books. Yes, I get frustrated at times but I honestly get
annoyed at just about everything every once in a while; that's the nature of
life.
I do, however, appreciate how supportive the volunteer community is and that
Bookshare staff is more and more responsive to our feedback.
Christina
----- Original Message -----
From: "Judy s." <cherryjam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, August 27, 2009 3:15 PM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Are volunteers really that important anymore?
Great set of ponderings Roger, and everyone else.
A few thoughts off the top of my head:
One area where I see volunteers continuing to be invaluable: out
of print books. Publishers aren't providing them, and millions
upon millions of them are only in printed form besides, not in an
electronic proof that the publisher can provide to bookshare.
Scads of titles of books are printed each year and then
disappear, when you take into account the small presses. Most
books published have one or two printings at most. I see those
kinds of books continuing to be added into the collection by
volunteers who want to read something other than the hottest new
bestsellers.
A second area: the outsourcers, because of the grants, are
focusing on children and young adult books, from what I see. That
leaves everything else for the rest of us (excluding textbooks,
of course, which frankly I'd rather see bookshare inhouse and
outsourcers handle as they are a pain in the butt).
Third, genres such as science fiction, gay and lesbian, erotica,
etc. The books I see getting added to the collection in these
categories are still primarily from volunteers.
Judy s.
Rogerbailey81@xxxxxxx wrote:
> If I had a stack of those gay and lesbian books on hand I can imagine
> that I might send them off to Bookshare and I might be out the postage
> and the cost of the books if I had bought them, but I would also be out
> many hours of volunteer labor to get them into the collection. I am not
> particularly interested in children's picture books, so I have not
> downloaded any, but I would think that outsourcers could handle them. I
> think that Pavi, in fact, said that the more difficult books have
> priority for being outsourced. The main thing I have noticed, though, is
> that the proportion of books added to the collection by means other than
> volunteers is now considerably greater than the proportion added by
> volunteers and that proportion is growing. Also, a good many books
> already in the collection by means of volunteers are being replaced by
> other means. Furthermore, the proportion that are being added by
> volunteers could , in most cases, be done faster and just as easily or
> more easily, by those other means. No one has mentioned it. In fact, the
> Bookshare staff is proceeding away with more and more innovations for
> volunteers. What I was really wondering is whether volunteering is
> becoming obsolete and nobody has noticed it.
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