[bookshare-discuss] Re: Lists by Category
- From: "Gerald Mackowiak" <gmackowiak@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2004 22:24:35 -0700
This is indeed an excellent topic for discussion. Let me throw in my two
cents worth, even though it may not be worth even that much.
How we use bookshare is obviously going to depend on our needs. Student
needs, professional needs or just plain fun needs.
I said I did not think it ought to be considered a primary research tool.
Obviously there are many books that could contribute to a student or
professional's research, but the reliability of scans, small amount of
materials available, (and the amounts are really still very small) and
questionable source citations would require that a student verify materials
in print libraries anyway. Also Materials are selected by the scanners.
what one scanner deems interesting , might be completely useless to a
student researching a paper topic.
Back in the 1970's when I was at
University, the RFB&D collection was about twice the size of Bookshare's
now (about 35,000). It was still very limited in its useability for
research. You simply could not get materials done fast enough, and even if
you could, you really could not be sure what you would need in a research
project. Research, as you well know involves a lot of dusty volumes on
dusty stacks in dusty old libraries on lazy Sunday afternoons!
That is not to say that RFB&D did not have it's uses for the student. I can
only use my own experience as a guide here. I was studying Japanese history
and language. Even today RFB&D doesn't have much material in these areas.
However, RFB&D did have a fair amount of classic histories in it's
collection. Resources that did serve very well to impart some fundamental
concepts for the history student. I read perhaps two or three thousand
books from RFB&D in those days. And many of them contributed to my work in
this indirect way. Honestly, though, I requested only half a dozen or so to
be recorded, and 3 of these were big fat general course textbooks.
For the history researcher I would think that Bookshare is in about the same
position as RFB&D was then. It contains quite a few of those classic
histories I read then, and a fairly large amount of what you might term
primary sources, in American history at least. It has a great advantage
though, in that we are
the ones who decide what we want scanned. If we want it bad enough, we can
get it out of the library and put it on the scanner. Obviously Bookshare
has a greater growth potential. This is proven by its having created a
17,000 book library in little more than two years. As you also say, it has
the potential to allow real browsing of scanned books. This was impossible
with RFB&D tapes. This is the most promising area for bookshare.
To become a real research tool, though, it will need to include much more
than just general texts. These change every two years. One thing that
students and ex-students might consider is to go through their libraries and
begin scanning materials that they may have used in their own researches.
I can say, (grin) that if I ever get my full library on board, which I hope
to someday, any budding Japanese scholar will be delighted!
Let's face it though, most of what comes to the site are for pure fun. I do
like the speed with which some of the latest bestsellers pop up. John Adams
was up there months before NLS had it on web braille. I read the Richard
Clarke and latest Bob Woodward books within two weeks of their release. One
of my greatest delights recently was hearing from a co-worker some months
back about the book Seabiscuit. I went home, downloaded it from Bookshare,
read it over the weekend, and came back to work to tell him how good a book
it was. He hadn't finnished it yet!
In a way I suppose, we never stop researching and learning. Now I work in
programming SQR for the state of California. Thanks to the O'reiley project
with Bookshare I've benefitted a lot from their computer books.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kellie Hartmann" <kellhart@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2004 9:47 PM
Subject: [bookshare-discuss] Re: Lists by Category
> Hi Gerald,
> The seemingly inappropriately-assigned categories actually stem from the
> inadequate category system. The consensus was to check as many categories
as
> a book possibly fit into; history and historical fiction are the best
> example of this. The fact that there is no historical fiction category is
a
> universal pet peeve, but checking both fiction and history would make it
> possible to find the books. It's a bit of a mess, but fixing it is going
to
> require a massive system overhaul so we're all becoming masters of the
> work-around. <grin>
> As for Bookshare's role; I would really like to see it increase in
relevance
> as a place to search for research materials. I know that this is also an
> official goal; schools are encouraged to get memberships for students as
> well as submit textbooks. RFB and Nls are wonderful, but they, especially
> RFBD, have different objectives. Having a book available in searchable
> format on a computer or in braille is not the same as having it on tape.
So
> as Bookshare grows and expands I am eager to see it become more and more
> useful for research, and I say this as a University student plagued with
> ghastly papers to write. <grin>
> Kellie
>
Other related posts:
