Hi Tracy your right the new bookshare can pull in the synopsis and other data with the ISBN now.
Its nice. Laura Ann At 06:48 AM 2/5/2009, you wrote:
I was under the impression that the new Bookshare was automagically getting book descriptions from somewhere and sticking them in the synopsis. With the new site, a surprising number of synopses seem to be more like reviews. It's markedly different from what I used to see in synopses, at least I think so. It went from "Regency romance" to "Amelia Zagreb has penned a fiery tale of passion and suspense..." Well, that's all the splashy reviewspeak I can make up at one time. Tracy > Cindy, only Bookshare volunteers can write a synopsis for a book. Either > the > submitter or the proofreader writes it, and they may actually be correct. > Unless you read the book yourself, I think it is high-handed to assume > that > you know what the book should be about just from reading School Library > Journal or an Amazon description. By rewriting someone's synopsis based on > Amazon, you are communicating that the person doesn't know what they're > talking about, even though they worked on the book. Bookshare asks us to > describe a book in our own words rather than using a source like Amazon. > So > a description may look more like a review to you, but it is within > Bookshare's guidelines. For that reason, I would be offended if someone > spent time rewriting my synopses and would vigorously object to the > practice. There are enough books in the collection with no synopses at all > that need to be updated. Rewriting another volunteer's synopsis because > you > don't like it is a waste of our limited resources when there are so many > things left undone at this point. If you don't like a synopsis, just write > a > review and describe the book in your own words. Then let the reader > decide. > > Monica Willyard > "The best way to predict the future is to create it." -- Peter Drucker > > -----Original Message----- > From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > [mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Cindy Rosenthal > Sent: Thursday, February 05, 2009 3:07 AM > To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > Subject: [bksvol-discuss] synopses and reviews > > > I have a habit of looking up books on Amazon and/or B&N, especially books > for children through young adult levels, and also other titles sometimes > to > see what genre they fall into, e.g., science fiction or fantasy. I read > the > reviews, and sometimes they are in agreement, both professional review > journals and customer reviews, and sometimes they are not. I think perhaps > that is why the bookshare policy is that reviewers' comments, whether from > the book jacket, where of course they're going to be favorable--can you > imagine a publisher including an unfavorable review on is book jacket or > inside the book--or from another source are not to be included in the > synopsis. > > From the synopses of bookshare books that I've read, while some are > excellent, others are nothing more than reviews, and in the case of a > children's book added to the collection recently, it was the opposite of > School Library Journal's review. > > I've reached the conclusion that some people do not know what a synopsis > it. > Unfortunately, I think some of these people are not bookshare volunteers. > For any of you who don't know, a synopsis is a plot summary. If any of you > see synopses of books that need rewriting, I hope you'll take the time to > do > so and send the rewrite to Carrie or Allison to use as a replacement. > > I've read customers' reviews online that differ markedly from each other, > which is why I read the reviews before I decide to buy a book. There is a > place on a book's bookshare site for readers to write a review. The good > thing about that is that you can write what you think having read the > book. > Others can read your review and after a while they'll know whether your > tastes are the same or different from theirs. I know some of us do write > reviews and I hope others of you will, too. It really doesn't take very > long. > > Cindy > > > > > 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. > > > 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. > > To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxput 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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