[bksvol-discuss] Re: Bookshare & PQ submissions

  • From: Rogerbailey81@xxxxxxx
  • To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Fri, 8 Aug 2008 08:00:42 EDT

 
I do not want to necessarily argue against retaining duplicate copies of  the 
same book, especially if we are talking about different editions, but  
comparing the situation to public libraries  is comparing it to an entirely  
different situation. Libraries often do have duplicate copies of the same title 
 if 
the book is especially popular so that more than one person can borrow it at  a 
time. It holds down the waiting list and reduces the frustration of library  
patrons. When the book wanes in popularity the duplicates are often discarded 
to  make room for more books. Bookshare, however is an entirely different 
matter. No  matter how popular a Bookshare book might be it can still be 
downloaded by  an unlimited number of other subscribers who will be making use 
of the 
same copy  at the same time. In a message dated 8/8/2008 12:00:30 A.M. Pacific 
Daylight  Time, popularplace@xxxxxxxxx writes:

My wish  is that the contracts with the publishers perhaps could be revised 
so that  their donated ebooks could exist alongside the books that you-all have 
 mentioned which might, for the reasons you have mentioned, be better.  
Libraries have duplicate copies of books sometimes by the same publisher and  
sometimes editions by different publishers. This perhaps is a matter for Jim  
or 
the publisher-liaison person to bring up to the  publishers.

Cindy



--- On Thu, 8/7/08, Paula and James  Muysenberg <outofsightlife@xxxxxxxxx> 
wrote:

> From: Paula and  James Muysenberg <outofsightlife@xxxxxxxxx>
> Subject:  [bksvol-discuss] Re: Bookshare & PQ submissions
> To: "Bkvol"  <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Date: Thursday, August 7, 2008,  4:35 PM
> these books contain charts or diagrams. I try to  either
> format the charts so
> they will be understandable,  keeping in mind that the
> Bookshare stripper
> removes tabs, or I  put an explanation in brackets. I'm
> sure other submitters
> do  similar things, all of which would be lost when the book
> is  replaced.
>     For the most part, I'm excited about  publishers
> donating books to
> Bookshare, but I really think  these other issues need to be
> addressed. I'm
> concerned that  none of this seems to have been taken in
> consideration, when
>  the contract with publishers was drawn up.
>     The loss  of picture descriptions in children's
> books especially  troubles
> me, since some children's books don't
> make much sense  without the pictures. When our oldest
> daughter was a
> toddler,  someone gave us a couple of Frances books. The
> books never  mention
> that Frances and her family are bears, and since I
>  couldn't see the
> pictures, it was years before I found that out. I  also
> didn't know for the
> longest that Clifferd is a huge, red  dog. Oh the gaps that
> will be left in
> our
> education,  without picture descriptions!
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> Paula
> 
> 
> ----- Original  Message ----- 
> From: "Mayrie ReNae" <mrenae@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>  To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Thursday, August 07,  2008 5:33 PM
> Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Bookshare & PQ
>  submissions
> 
> 
> > Hi Carrie and Pavi,
>  >
> > All that you say here I understand completely.   There
> are, however,
> > a couple of cases in which replacing  a truly excellent
> copy of a book
> > scanned and validated by  conscientious volunteers
> would be, in my opinion,
> > harmful  to the Bookshare collection.  Children's
> books that have  had
> picture
> > descriptions and handwritten pages typed in  by
> volunteers, and books of
> > poetry in which stanzas have  been preserved would be
> of lower quality from
> > the  publishers.  Obviously copies of childrens'
> books from the  publisher
> > will not include picture descriptions.  If  handwriting
> is preserved in the
> > text of publisher quality  books as handwriting, , no
> screen reader will
> read
>  > that.  And finally, poetry that is not protected from
> having  all of its
> > stanzas and lines run together is no longer  poetry,
> but prose, which it
> was
> > not intended to  be.
> >
> > I understand that to keep your contract  with
> publishers, you must
> > keep only their copies of  books.  That can't
> probably be changed.  I do
> >  think it is important to note that there will be in
> some few cases,  some
> > important things lost by removing scanned copies of
>  books from the
> Bookshare
> > collection.  I doubt that  there is anything that can
> be done.  But this is
>  a
> > sad situation to me.
> >
> > I would  suggest  that members grab any books whose
> quality might
>  > suffer in ways that I have noted, and others that I
> haven't  thought of,
> that
> > they want to read that might be replaced  by publisher
> quality books  now
> > before they are  replaced.
> >
> > Mayrie
> >
> >
>  > -----Original Message-----
> > From:  bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >  [mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
> Of Pavi  Mehta
> > Sent: Thursday, August 07, 2008 2:20 PM
> > To:  bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx;
> bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>  > Cc: Lisa Friendly
> > Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Bookshare &  PQ
> submissions
> >
> > Hi All,
> >
>  > In the light of recent discussions on the list
> regarding  Publisher quality
> > submissions we wanted to send an email to all  of you
> to clarify
> Bookshare's
> > position on  this.
> >
> > While volunteers continue to be our primary  source of
> books being put into
> > the collection, upgrading  books already in the
> collection continues to be
> > one of  Bookshare's primary goals.  Many volunteers
> have  contributed
> > thousands of hours in improving books in the
>  collection, and they do a
> great
> > job!  But publishers  have resources that allow them to
> create perfect
>  copies
> > of books. Bookshare would like every single book  in
> the collection to be
> > absolutely perfect, and this goal  actually might be
> achievable if we can
> > convince  publishers to donate e-book versions of their
> books. Many of  the
> > Publisher Quality books that we receive are in  perfect
> condition, but not
> > quite all at this point, as  the technology is evolving
> in the publishing
> >  industry.
> >
> > We need to encourage publishers to donate  their books,
> since eventually
> they
> > will be  donating ONLY perfect books. And wouldn't
> that be wonderful?
>  Imagine
> > every single book in the collection being  perfect!
> Currently it's a goal,
> > but someday, maybe not  too far away, it might be
> possible to achieve it.
> > We know  that thousands of volunteers have contributed
> hundreds of
>  thousands
> > of hours of effort in putting books into the
>  collection, and we
> acknowledge
> > that the vast majority of  our books are in excellent
> condition.  But
> > upgrading  our books will always be a primary goal, and
> to that end, we
>  will
> > replace current books with publisher quality books.  It
> is also very
> > important for us to let our volunteer  community know
> that this replacement
> > policy is in fact a  requirement of the contracts that
> we sign with the
> >  publishing houses.
> >
> > To the extent possible, we will  also inform the
> volunteers of the books
> that
> >  publishers will be sending us, so as to not duplicate
> efforts. With  every
> > batch of books that publishers send us, there are
>  software changes
> required
> > in our processing of their  books, so the books are
> currently being added
> to
> >  the collection in at a fairly slow trickle. But we are
> pretty  optimistic
> > that in the near future, the speed of donating  books
> and processing them
> > will increase. Our mandate from  the US Department of
> Education is to put
> > 100,000 new  books into the collection in 5 years. We
> have no doubt that we
>  > will meet that goal, especially with all the Publisher
> Quality  books that
> we
> > are being given by the forward-thinking  publishers who
> are so generous
> with
> > their time,  efforts and books. Huge thanks to
> O'Reilly, HarperCollins,
>  > Scholastic, and other publishing houses and to all of
> you as we  continue
> to
> > grow the collection as a team.
>  >
> >
> > Carrie Karnos and Pavi Mehta
> >  Bookshare.org
> >
> >
> >
> >
>  >
> >
> >
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> 
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