[bksvol-discuss] Re: gaps in the collection
- From: "Monica Willyard" <rhyami@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2009 15:04:11 -0500
Hi Carrie. Since Bookshare serves sighted people, I see some gaps others may
not have mentioned. Books about defensive driving, car maintenance,
beauty/fashion, bird watching, scrapbooking, and home decorating and
remodeling are missing from Bookshare. We also don't have many books about
flower arranging, varieties of flowers and plants, and landscaping. Many of
our books about houseplants and gardening are rated fair and are hard to
read. They aren't visible to new members by default. In fact, our "Home and
Garden" category is fairly anemic, especially since around half of the 181
books are Shelley's series of children's books about animals that are
"nature's children." If you watch TV, networks like TLC, A&E, Style, and
HGTV are full of shows about decorating, remodeling, and restoring houses or
about planting lovely gardens and landscaping with designs that flatter the
style of a home.
So far, Bookshare's collection doesn't reflect these types of interests. I
haven't figured out if this lack of content is due to lack of interest from
submitters or if the material is difficult to scan. It could be a
combination of both. I do know that sighted people read books on these
subjects and think they will expect to see books about these topics in the
collection.
Monica Willyard
"The best way to predict the future is to create it." -- Peter Drucker
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