This was originally a reply to Monica on the volunteer list but I thought people on both lists might find it helpful.
Hi,Yes, all feedback is useful to me, even if you say that you can't help but you wish you could. (Smile). However, I am a little confused. I can certainly understand someone not wanting to take on more than they can handle. That seems to be the predominant problem, too many books and not enough time. The reason why I'm confused is that there is no hard time limit by which books must be scanned. Book requests for me to buy must be submitted by September 21st as well as all scanning forms, but the books won't even be bought and shipped until after that. Realistically people willing to scan won't get anything until October 1 at the soonest and possibly later. I would appreciate it if books could be scanned and submitted within about six weeks of receipt but again this isn't a hard limit. As long as I know the books are being worked on and aren't sitting on a shelf somewhere, I can wait longer. If I send books directly to Carrie, I would be looking at about a three month wait anyway, at least from my experience. Some books will be overlarge compared to a standard 200-page novel so obviously they will take longer. That's fine with me as long as I am informed about what's going on.
There is a comment in my announcement saying that if scanners take too long they will be asked to mail the book to someone else. Again, that's just to prevent someone from taking on a bunch of free books which sit there for a year. I understand that real life gets in the way and not everyone can scan all the time. I have frequent health issues so I do understand needing a break. Just let me know about once a week what the status of the scanning is and I won't bother you. If months go by and I don't hear from you, I won't appreciate that. You can keep the books if you want them or exchange them via EBay, a swap site, etc. They are inexpensive and are all used.
My point that I'm trying to emphasize here is that if you think you want to scan a book or two starting some time around the first to middle of October, get the scanning form filled out and books will be mailed to you. If you have further questions, just ask here or at bookshare@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Even if you can't scan books, don't want to, etc, you can still help. Either you can donate funds to buy more books, donate your own used books to others willing to scan, or request books in the classic mystery and science fiction genres. I'm not starting my own wish list per sey but I will accept requests for either new books and authors to add to the collection or fair books that need to be rescanned. Literally anyone can help, even people who aren't Bookshare volunteers. Priority is given to people who are willing to scan books they request but requests will still be accepted from anyone. All the information you need is at http://baechler.net/ including the scanning form and full announcement. Even though the schedule says September 15th, it will be extended to the 21st. It isn't just about finding people to scan, although that's an important part. Surely you found an author with fair quality books that you want rescanned. Just go ahead and ask. I will personally answer anything written to me directly and all requests will get an acknowledgement sent automatically.
Thank you for your feedback. Don't hesitate to point out anything else which needs improvement or that could be done differently.
At 04:17 AM 8/27/07 -0400, you wrote:
Hi, Tony. You've asked for feedback, so I thought I'd write. I like your idea of a book drive. I have not responded to you because I have taken on over a dozen books to scan for people and am busy editing the scans. I don't know if anyone else is in my position. I would like to help you, and I know if I put anything else on my plate, it will break. I do like mysteries, and I don't generally read science fiction or fantasy. Your project is a worthy one, and I hope others do respond to you. As a submitter, I never run out of books to work on and wish I could only clone myself a dozen times. (grin) I hope my feedback is useful to you. If not, please just hit the delete key.
---------- Tony Baechler Baechler Productions To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx put the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line. To get a list of available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the subject line.
