I knew that we couldn't send whole documents, but you say parts here. Does this mean that you can't even contact the submitter to rescan pages, or, in the case that the submitter isn't available, another submitter can't rescan pages? If this is the case, how are volunteers supposed to correct errors? Are we supposed to reject a book because one page is messed up, or put up a project of poor quality because of this restriction?
Melissa Smith On 3/2/2010 6:50 PM, Julie Carpenter wrote:
Hello All -Bookshare Management has been made aware of ongoing concerns related to sharing RTF files. Discussion surrounding this topic within the volunteer community seems to be: if the book is not yet in Bookshare's collection or under direct supervision of Bookshare, it is fine to distribute among the volunteer community to solicit help with proofing. It is illegal and unethical to send parts or wholes of books to other individuals over the internet without explicit permission from the copyright holder. Bookshare cannot emphasize this enough. It is impermissible for Bookshare volunteers to violate copyright.From Bookshare's volunteer agreement: "If a copyright violation occurs that is traced to me, Bookshare will discontinue my account. I acknowledge that violations of copyright law and the terms of this agreement may subject me and other people committing such violations to civil and criminal liability, and that Bookshare will cooperate with copyright holders on investigations of such violations. If I violate the terms of this agreement, Bookshare may unilaterally and immediately terminate this agreement by written or email notice to me."We value greatly all of the hard work and loyalty our volunteers donate to make our organization productive and successful. However, to maintain our position in the field of accessible books, it is crucial that our volunteer community adhere strictly to the rules of copyright, and avoid at all cost, any violation thereof.Thank you, Julie Carpenter Collection Development Manager Bookshare
