[bksvol-discuss] Re: "Disappearing Books"

  • From: Melissa Smith <mdsmith25@xxxxxxxx>
  • To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Thu, 10 Jun 2010 16:37:48 -0500

I wonder if something could be worked out with the publishers to allow volunteers to add picture descriptions, if that were the only thing they were allowed to change about the publisher donated book. I know that's probably too much to ask for. smile!


Sorry about your computer crash, and loss of scans, Valerie. That I always a pain.

Melissa Smith


On 6/10/2010 4:29 PM, Valerie Maples wrote:
Could both copies exist in the library with "top billing" going to the PQ in 
gratitude for the donation and the other denoted as with descriptions?

Seems like publishers might understand the benefit of both.

Just a thought...
Valerie, who's PC crashed this morning along with last nights five scans.  :-(


On Jun 10, 2010, at 2:37 PM, Scott Rains wrote:

Lissi,

I have to admit that image descriptions remain a problematic issue. i have 
passed along your helpful concern

Scott Rains
Benetech Fellow, Bookshare Volunteer Department
________________________________________
From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] 
On Behalf Of Estelnalissi [airadil@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Thursday, June 10, 2010 12:32 PM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: "Disappearing Books"

Dear Scott,

One thing that worries me about volunteer prepared books being replaced by
PQ books is that in some cases volunteers have inserted material to make
certain books accessible to blind and otherwise reading disabled
subscribers, particularly in the case where illustrations have been
described. Sometimes illustrations show pretty much exactly what has been
conveyed in the text in which case the descriptions are redundant, but in
other cases, especially in books for younger readers and humorous books, the
illustrations supplement the text, contributing details and humor a blind
reader would miss if not for the descriptions.

I hope the addition of PQ books won't be at the expense of blind readers who
if not for the volunteer prepared books, would miss the richness found in
the illustrations.

And, have I missed the latest count of how many books are in the general
Bookshare collection? sixty thousand was the last total I heard. I am so
curious!

Always with love,

Lissi

----- Original Message -----
From: "Scott Rains"<scottr@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To:<bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, June 10, 2010 2:21 PM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] "Disappearing Books"


Bookshare volunteers,

Approximately 6800 Random House books in e-pub format will be flowing
through Bookshare's production pipeline over the next several weeks.

During that time changes will be limited to 100 books/day. This allows us
to test our tools for auto-publishing straight to the collection and
diverting low-quality submissions from publishers (yes, they do exist!)
to our review and repair processes.

I know this can be discouraging especially if you see your submission
replaced by something else. It may be comforting to keep in mind the
impact your submission has had on members up to the point it was replaced.
It is also important to remind ourselves that while publishers can shower
us with the thousands of titles that are in their catalog only our
volunteers fill our collection with the in-demand, hard-to-find titles
that they know appeal to our members.

With that in mind I invite volunteers to sign up for the Series Captains
Project. Here's the list of series and captains so far. Below is a
description of the project:

https://wiki.benetech.org/display/BSO/Series+Captains+List

Scott Rains
Benetech Fellow, Bookshare Volunteer Department
________________________________________

Volunteers,

Several people have asked for gaps to be filled in the series in
Bookshare's
collection. One way to do that quickly and accurately is to allow a
volunteer to take on the role of Series Captain. A Series Captain takes
ownership of filling the gaps in a specific series of books.

The process looks something like this:

Pick a series to oversee.
You may recruit sub-captains or a new volunteer as a mentee. All mentees
must have successfully completed  at least one full book scan before they
can join this new campaign.
Research the collection to see if there any titles missing in that series
and which titles in the collection are of less than excellent quality.
Check the Master list to ensure there is no duplication of effort.
Scan the book and upload it yourself now or submit the title to our Wish
List.

This process allows us to systematically improve the quality of our
collection. It allows those with a passion for a particular series to have
ongoing responsibility for it. We expect Series Captains will also feel a
sense of pride in a job well done.

There are several series that have traditionally been followed very
closely
by particular volunteers; we would hope those people would become Captains
of those series. We have reached out to a few of those people already. If
you are following a series or would like to become a Series Captain,
please
let Nancy Feldman ( nancy_feldman@xxxxxxxxxxx ) or Scott Rains (
scottr@xxxxxxxxxxxx ) know!

An early version of the Series Captains List is on the wiki here:
https://wiki.benetech.org/display/BSO/Series+Captains+List

If this is not a good format, let us know. It's just the first iteration
and
can be changed.

Thanks always for being a dynamic and momentous force that makes Bookshare
the incredible library it is. We couldn't do it without you!






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