I am not going to endorse the new rule, but I may as well offer my perspective too. When I first signed up to volunteer I looked at the checkout list and saw a lot of holds. I did not like it. For one thing, even though the proportion of holds back then was lower than it is now, I did not like having to wade through all the holds in order to find something I was allowed to proof. For another thing, it seemed to me that there was some kind of clique of volunteers that was exclusive and resistant to new volunteers. For another thing, at the bottom of the list I saw books that had been sitting there with holds on them for as long as two years. Then I subscribed to this list and by reading the chatter here I learned that there were good and, in fact, very good reasons to put holds on books. I had to grudgingly admit that the practice had its uses. I still didn't really like it, though, and I never asked anyone to place a hold on one for me until my hard disk crashed while I was right in the middle of proofing a book. It would take me a while to deal with that problem and I went to a library computer without a screen reader and with some sighted help from a sighted person who regarded computers about the same as she regarded interstellar spacecraft. With some difficulty I did get off a message to Cindy and through her I got the book I was working on to have a hold put on it when it expired. When I was able to get back on line I resumed the work and found myself still not liking holds even if it had been useful to me and I never asked that a hold be put on a book for me again. Eventually the point came that I decided that I could be a better volunteer by submitting rather than proofing and I have not proofed for a long time now. Again, I found myself torn between not liking holds and understanding why they were useful. I announced some of the books I was working on on this list and I was asked to place a hold on one on occasion and I did so. There was another time that someone asked me if I would like to scan a particular book if she bought it and sent it to me and then place a hold on for her. I agreed. After all, how could I possibly refuse to place a hold on a book that someone actually purchased with the expectation of proofing it. Anymore, though, for the most part, I just choose the next book I am going to work on and quietly go ahead and scan it and take my time about it. I do work kind of slowly too and I prefer it that way. If another person is expecting my submission, and even if I have not been given a time limit, I feel pressured to hurry up. Without that pressure I can just work when I feel like it and sometimes even take a break of a few days. I then quietly submit without any fanfare and wait to see who takes the book for proofing. With the dearth of books on the checkout list lately I sure did not have to wait long for my latest submissions to be grabbed. Again, I am not endorsing the new policy and I can see that all of you who oppose it are making very valid points, but I still do not like holds. Given the style of work that I have fallen into, though, it is a matter that does not really effect me now. Sometimes, though, I do skim through the checkout list without intending to download something and I do feel a sense of frustration at finding it so hard to find something of interest to download if I was planning to download something. If I actually intended to do that I think I would be gritting my teeth in frustration. One more thing, even if there are some very good reasons to place holds on some books I do tend to think that it is done often times unnecessarily. For example, someone often announces on this list that they are about to upload a book and asks if anyone wants it. My reaction is that if you are just going to place a hold on it for the first person who asks then why place a hold on it at all? Either way you don't really control who gets it.
On 7/25/2012 7:19 AM, Regina Alvarado wrote:
Just my perspective and opinion. I agree with the rule. Just as I was chastised for not reading fast enough to put books in the collection, I feel that having books for months and months on the my checked out books is just as bad. I don't believe that the rule should be changed for "new" volunteers, but if I was a volunteer and could not find a good book to read because everyone had their name on them, I would get discouraged. I do not have a syndicate of friends who scan and can put my name on them. I depend on the checked out books for my books to proof, and when all the mysteries, history, etc. are already being held I end up with the problem I had to deal with a few days ago. Luckily there were a number of people here who came to my rescue, Mary being one, but there still were not enough books. It is a matter of what do you like to read. All the mysteries, etc. are given hold fors and what is left are religious books and technical books I wouldn't know anything or care enough about to proof correctly. If it was a medical transcriptionist book I could proof it, but they are computer books, etc. Everyone should have the same chance of getting books they do not want to particularly proof, not just those who are not hooked up to a scanner. Also, not all volunteers are on this list. It takes time to go through the traffic here so they depend on the checked out list. As for scanning. Good scanners are worth their weight in gold, but, as is my situation, they do not have room enough to make scanning comfortable or perhaps they cannot even afford the necessary equipment to do a great scan. I would have to scan into Word. I do not, nor can I afford, Kurzweil or Open Book. Perhaps this could be a problem for some. Getting books is another problem. Not everyone can search extensively to make certain some publisher has not put the book on Bookshare. Also, getting and paying for books could be a problem. If I can find a way to scan, I am going to do the research necessary. However, not everyone understands enough about computers to do that much research. Just my opinion and perhaps a little thought from the other side of the proverbial coin. Understand I am bucking everyone here, but something needed and should be done about hold fors that just languish. Just as bad in my opinion as renewing and renewing and renewing. Reggie 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.
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