[bksvol-discuss] Re: Are volunteers really that important anymore?
- From: "EVAN REESE" <mentat3@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:53:33 -0400
You're probably right about publishers not wanting their books to be altered.
However, if a volunteer submitted a book without page breaks or page numbers,
it would be rejected out of hand--as it should be.
When I first joined Bookshare back in 2006, I asked here why it was necessary
to bother with page numbers or page breaks. After all, the book was in
electronic format; you could search for any word or combination of words in the
book and find them almost immediately. I was told in quite a bit of detail why
page numbers and page breaks were important. Well, I came around on that issue
fairly quickly. But now, a publisher can get their books added to the
collection without either page breaks or page numbers. Seems to be a bit of a
step backwards.
I'm not sure what the solution is to that problem. On the one hand, it's great
to have publishers donating their books. The text quality is--usually--very
good, although not perfect. But on the other hand, it seems a bit unfair that a
book can be accepted from one source with missing stuff that--if volunteers
sent it up, would be--rightly--rejected..
Evan
----- Original Message -----
From: Rogerbailey81@xxxxxxx
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Friday, August 28, 2009 2:03 PM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Are volunteers really that important anymore?
I don't think the publishers want their submissions altered.
"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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Subj:
[bksvol-discuss] Re: Are volunteers really that important anymore?
Date:
8/28/2009 7:11:30 AM Eastern Daylight Time
From:
wyomiia@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Reply-to:
bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
To:
bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent from the Internet
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There is one real problem with publisher's books. No page numbers! I use
the Stream to read books at night and it has a sleep button that lets me set
the Stream to turn it's self off in 60 min. I however, go to sleep sooner.
When I turn it on the next day I have to go back anywhere from 10 to 100 pages
to find where I went to sleep.
Could volunteers proof the publisher's books to add pages? That is one thing
I love over the NLS BARD books is page numbers. I'm sure others prefer
Bookshare
books to NLS for this reason too and the fact they take up less room in
storage.
I feel sure there are going to be other problems to show up with publisher's
books that will need volunteers to fix. If Bookshare and the publishers will
let them.
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----- Original Message -----
From:
Reggie & Brooks
To:
bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thursday, August 27, 2009 9:00 AM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Are volunteers really that important anymore?
I agree. It seems to me that quite possibly we are, as volunteers, becoming
less and less important to the whole process. It is much simpler to take a
book that has already been made electronic and use that. I personally felt
much more needed at the beginning when I was proofing submissions from my fellow
volunteers. The idea behind being able to volunteer also was to help anyone
who wanted to spend the time help themselves build up credits to get free
subscriptions. For me, this was an important part but not really the reason
I volunteered. I wanted to help blind people get books that when I was young
I would have had to wait years for NLS to make available. If BKS decides we
are an unnecessary part, I am unsure if I would look for books on Bookshare
as 50 dollars a year on top of ever higher prices of things is a lot for me.
I think I would be heart broken, however, because Bookshare is a way to share
with each other, and there is little of that left in this country, in my
opinion. Everyone seems to be out for himself. For me Bookshare is a way I can
give back to the blind community. I don't do anywhere near the books that
some do, but the time I volunteer I knew was going to give someone somewhere
a book to make them smile, cry, or laugh that he or she might not have gotten
to read if I and my fellow scanner had not taken the time to give to them.
I don't know if this new publisher books is a good idea and if it will
eventually be deemed we are no longer needed, but I definitely don't feel as
close
to the process or to the people who might enjoy my work.
Reggie
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