Dear Nancy, Putting a hold on a book is an option Bookshare has given submittors who have made arrangements with a specific proofreader in advance to proofread their book. This is done for many reasons. Sometimes a proofreader has planned in advance for someone to scan a book with the understanding the submittor will write, Hold for Lissi or whoever, before the title of that book when submitting. The proofreader may have even mailed a copy of the book for the submittor to scan. Sometimes submittors post a list of the books they will be scanning to the volunteer e-mail group so that volunteers can request books they'll enjoy proofing. Books can stay on the check in page for months without being chosen for proofreading. Offering books to Proofreaders on list ensures the submittor that an interested volunteer will grab up the book when it lands on the check out page so it will be added to the collection within a fairly short time,, like in a few days to a week. . Many submittors and proofreaders have, over time, become teams. For example, Evan Reese has offered to scan holiday books for children for me to proofread. I know he has the expertise to scan books for young children which are usually more challenging because of the pictures, and varied fonts and layouts. He knows that when I proofread I read the book cover to cover, that I do the maximum not the minimum before checking in the book. Evan likes to know that his scans will be carefully proofread. We believe it hurts Bookshare's reputation every time a user, whether a child or an adult, downloads a book and finds it full of distracting, confusing, unprofessional looking errors. When a title doesn't have a hold for, any volunteer can check out a book, but the submittor can't know if that person proofreads with care or not. Hold fors are a kind of insurance. They aren't exclusive as those of us who use them are always happy to find new volunteers we feel we can depend on. To put a hold on a book, Hold for, the name followed by a colon is written by the submittor in front of the book's title in the title field of the submission form. Hold for does not have to appear in the file name. Always with love, Lissi ----- Original Message ----- From: Nancy Martin To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Thursday, May 07, 2009 1:40 PM Subject: [bksvol-discuss] putting a hold on a book Hi everybody, How and when is a hold put on a book? Are holds requested when a book is listed as being scanned? thanks, Nancy Martin Oklahoma