The case has sometimes been made by bookshare that some things must be
taken care of by staff and not volunteers. We know there have been
bottlenecks in the past when a lot of books needed to be approved and
Gustavo was the only person authorized to do it.
Just out of curiosity, is the wish list such a thing? I mean, can some of
that task be taken care of by a volunteer and then the result approved by a
staff member perhaps weekly? Let me give you an example.
Let's start by suggesting that a little programming can be used here to
recreate the format of the present wish list. Stay with me here. I know
it costs a bit up front in terms of programming resources and paying for
them on the part of bookshare as an organization. But it will save staff
time. So will delligating any of the tasks I outline below to a volunteer
where possible.
So the wish list will say:
This is the bookshare wish list. Here is where the bookshare users or
possible new users can input a boo you wish were part of bookshare. Please
be sure to check the collection first using the search box to make sure the
book truly is needed. It may already be part of bookshare. Those of you
who are not members, please remember you can always search for a book and
can always add to this wish list.
(It is important to encourage nonusers to search the catalog in case
finding the book will be the thing which tips them into joining. Also many
nonusers of bookshare do not seem to realize they can search for a book on
in the bookshare catalog.)
The person going to the bookshare wish list will have a input field called
"my wish" where the book name can be input. The book name will then become
part of a list called "the wish list".
Each book on the wish list will have a link below it saying "I want to make
this wish come true". A volunteer can click on this link.
The link sends a email with the name of the book and the name of the
volunteer to a mailbox bookshare maintains called "wish list books being
scanned".The mailbox is used for this reason and no other.
The book title being scanned will appear on the wish list page under a
listname such as "wishes being fulfilled and soon to come true".
I do not know if any of this process can legally be automated. For
instance, would it be legal for a book to immediately appear on this list
as soon as the volunteer took it? I know it is possible from a programming
standpoint. That is it can be done with programming.
My point is that the books being scanned as wish list requests would appear
here so people will be saved the work of scanning something somebody else
is already working on.
As for updating the wish list, that would be done by its users the way we
"update" the step 1 page by submitting books. Not making the task a staff
task would free up staff to do other things.
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