[Dtb-talk] If you are a student, BookShare is now free

Tue Oct 2 08:56:46 CDT 2007

Brett, 

Yes, I understand. I too am blind and apprecitae information in almost any
accessible format. However, if books used for educational purposes are being
scanned and not being proof read, that cannot be good. 

-----Original Message-----
From: dtb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:dtb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Brett Winches
Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2007 9:53 AM
To: Discussion of Digital Talking Books
Subject: Re: [Dtb-talk] If you are a student, BookShare is now free

Valarie, Each book is validated but some errors do creep in even those
in standard publications.  For the most part if the book comes directly
from  the publisher the errors are dramatically reduced.  
For many the trade off of having the book nearly when the other students
have it may be worth it.  If I had things to do over again I would use
the Book Share books.  

###
BRETT WINCHESTER
bwinchester at icbvi.idaho.gov 
208-639-8386
###

-----Original Message-----
From: dtb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:dtb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org]
On Behalf Of Valerie Lewis
Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2007 7:30 AM
To: 'Discussion of Digital Talking Books'
Subject: Re: [Dtb-talk] If you are a student, BookShare is now free

Good morning all, 

Is it my misunderstanding or is it correct that the books available from
Bookshare are not proof read. If this is the case, should these books be
used for educational purposes? If this is not correct, please provide me
with the correct information. 

Valerie

-----Original Message-----
From: dtb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:dtb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org]
On Behalf Of Pratik Patel
Sent: Monday, October 01, 2007 7:45 PM
To: 'Discussion of Digital Talking Books'
Subject: Re: [Dtb-talk] If you are a student, BookShare is now free

The figure of 32 million is in question and may be lower.  It's a
possibility that it was a typo.  Inquiries are pending.
-----Original Message-----
From: dtb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:dtb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org]
On Behalf Of Aaron Cannon
Sent: Monday, October 01, 2007 5:25 PM
To: NFB Talk Mailing List
Cc: National Association of Blind Students mailing list; Discussion of
Digital Talking Books
Subject: [Dtb-talk] If you are a student, BookShare is now free

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This was just posted to the bookshare.org site:

We're happy to share incredible news, which will transform
Bookshare.org. On Friday, the Office of Special Education Programs of
the U.S. federal Department of Education made a major five-year award of
$32 million to Bookshare.org. This will further the objectives of the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), by supplying high
quality textbooks and educational materials to students with special
needs.

This funding is to fully support all schools and students with
qualifying print disabilities in the United States, K-12 and
post-secondary, with access to the entire Bookshare.org collection of
accessible electronic books and to software for reading those books. As
of October 1, 2007, we will cease charging these schools and students
anything to join Bookshare.org. We also expect to add over 100,000 new
educational titles in high quality DAISY and Braille formats over the
next five years, getting students the terrific quality textbooks they
need for academic success!

And, from an email:

Forwarded from Jim Fruchterman:

I'm happy to share incredible news, which will transform Bookshare.org.
On Friday, the Office of Special Education Programs of the U.S. federal
Department of Education made a major five-year award of $32 million to
Bookshare.org.

This funding is to fully support all schools and students with
qualifying print disabilities in the United States, K-12 and
post-secondary, with access to the entire Bookshare.org collection of
accessible electronic books and to software for reading those books.  As
of October 1, 2007, we will cease charging these schools and students
anything to join Bookshare.org as members.

In this initial news flash, I can't begin to share with you all of our
plans for Bookshare.org now with this funding.  But, we are planning on
adding more than 100,000 new educational books and materials to our
existing collection of over 34,000 titles.  We are going to reach out to
every student, every family with a disabled student, and every school in
the U.S.
to offer them the chance to join the Bookshare.org community and
transform the practice of making books accessible.  We are going to
coordinate with schools and publishers to deliver the best quality
content possible and lower their costs in meeting our shared obligations
to serve every student with a disability in the nation.  We expect to
provide millions of books to students through this new program over the
next five years, at a tenth or less of the historical cost of providing
these services.

And, we expect our improvements to serve all of these students will make
Bookshare.org better for all of our Bookshare.org users. Bookshare.org's
track record of being highly responsive to our members will be enhanced
with significant funding to implement major improvements to our content
and services.

Our volunteer community is an essential part of what made this grant
possible, and you are a crucial part to making this a success in the
future.
Your
commitment to our shared vision of better access to information is core
to where we are heading.

We want to make equal access to educational materials for disabled
students a reality!

Jim

Jim Fruchterman

President and CEO

- --
Skype: cannona
MSN/Windows Messenger: cannona at hotmail.com (don't send email to the
hotmail
address.)

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