[bksvol-discuss] Re: Getting burned out
- From: "Pratik Patel" <pratikp1@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 9 Jun 2007 21:00:32 -0400
I completely and whole-heartedly agree with Donna's sentiment here. My need
for perfection isn't so much that I must fix every book. The law of
diminishing returns always plays a large factor in my decision to reject a
particular book. We all appreciate the wonderful job that volunteers like
Cindy and Jaimie do in obtaining books from their libraries and scanning
missing pages, etc. While there is no hard and fast rule for rejecting, it
becomes a matter of instinct and skill to understand which book/s should be
rejected.
Pratik
-----Original Message-----
From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Jill O'Connell
Sent: Saturday, June 09, 2007 3:58 PM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Getting burned out
Rejecting a book is often the solution instead of depending on Bookshare to
make the decision. If they don't agree with your rejection, I presume they
can always put the book back on the Step 1 page.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Donna Smith" <donnafsmith@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, June 09, 2007 7:51 AM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Getting burned out
> Grace is absolutely right here. The way to sustain a volunteer pool over
> the long haul is to volunteer to do something you really enjoy doing and
> keep to a manageable level, volunteering to do that which is not
> enjoyable,
> even when you really believe in the results of the unenjoyable work.
>
> Having said that, I want to invoke the spirit of a former volunteer list
> member, Guido, who use to say that it makes more sense to throw out badly
> scanned books and rescan them than to spend the inordinate amount of time
> it
> takes to fix them through the validation process. I think BookShare staff
> can go through the books that have been on the step 1 page for a while and
> assess their value as "savable" books. I think it's safe to say that the
> volunteer pool has already made that assessment by leaving them on the
> page
> for so long. If they are books that people want to or need to read, then
> someone else will scan them or request to have them scanned and perhaps
> the
> next version will be better and more worth our time and effort to
> validate.
>
>
> Over the years, I have worked in volunteer projects that took in food and
> clothing for redistribution, and there's always a point at which you
> assess
> whether the things donated are of a value worth redistributing. To be
> more
> straightforward, there's always a certain amount of junk that gets donated
> along with the usable stuff, and someone has to decide to throw it out.
> In
> this case, it's not really our decision as volunteers what should be
> thrown
> out, but our actions indicate to staff our opinions of what's not worth
> our
> time and effort to validate, and they are responsible for doing the actual
> elimination. It's kind of a natural weeding out process.
>
> Anyway, I've gone off on a bit of a tangent. Monica, validating 16 books
> and scanning 7 within a month is a phenomenal amount of volunteering! You
> should feel no guilt for taking whatever kind of vacation you choose!
>
> Peace and Hope,
>
> Donna
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Silvara
> Sent: Friday, June 08, 2007 9:21 PM
> To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Getting burned out
>
> Hi Monica:
>
> I definitely understand the burned out feeling. I think it was last
> summer
> or fall I felt so burned out that I just had to stop validating. I was so
> frustrated with books that needed a lot of work that I couldn't take it
> any
> more. So I scanned books that I wanted to read instead.
>
> Now I have validated 2 books in the past month, and they were not quick
> validations.
>
> So do yourself a favor and take the time you need.
>
> Grace
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Monica Willyard" <rhyami@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Friday, June 08, 2007 10:40 AM
> Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: books on step 1 ten months old or older
>
>
>>
>>>Hi, Cindy. I think we have an active validating community because of
>>>what
>
>>>I see in the admin queue. Of course, we always do need more validaters.
>>>I think, in the case of these older books, that they haven't been
>>>validated due to format and subject matter. I can only share where I am
>>>in validating at the moment. I have validated 16 books in the past
>>>month,
>
>>>and I have scanned 7 books while validating. I used to agonize over
>>>fixing up the more obscure books and textbooks because I wanted people to
>>>get their credit for scanning. I'm burned out on those books and
>>>promised
>
>>>myself a summer vacation of only working on books that I genuinely want
>>>to
>
>>>read. I still care about submitter's getting their credit, but I just
>>>can't stand
>> to read a lot of serious nonfiction right now. I'm hoping that taking
>> the
>
>> summer off will help me feel more like working on these kinds of books
>> again. I feel like when you've had too much of a food you don't like for
>> a long time so that where you tolerated it for awhile, now it makes you
>> want to just leave the table. If some of the Openbook formatted books
>> are
>
>> still there in September, I will validate them. I don't really like this
>> burned out feeling and wish I felt more like doing the work because these
>> submitter's cared enough to scan these books. Maybe others are feeling
>> this way too, or maybe I'm the only one. That's where I am and how I see
>> things though.
>>
>>
>> "Don't let yesterday use up too much of today!" Will Rogers
>> Monica Willyard, rhyami@xxxxxxxxx
>> Add rhyami to your Skype if you'd like to chat.
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>
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