| Issue 2 :: Winter 2009 |
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The New Bookshare – The Inside Story
Bookshare student member Alex Clark. By Betsy Burgess Here’s a question, "What recent project took Benetech more than a year of effort and more than 20 content specialists?" The answer, "Redesigning, rebuilding, and testing the new Bookshare library!" The project began in late 2007 with a wide-open opportunity. Benetech CEO Jim Fruchterman challenged our team to rethink the design of Bookshare.org. He asked us to create a new site that would offer better-organized information, establish best practices for accessibility, and simplify processes so that no action required more than a few clicks. With these requirements in mind, the team got to work on designing a new interface. A lot of thought went into selecting the new logo, the colors, the layout, the location of each menu item, and the placement of buttons. After multiple iterations, the team agreed on the design you now recognize and use. Next, the team tackled each library process and designed new workflows. To visualize proposed changes, an interface expert mocked up draft screen shots of potential changes. Each new design led to much discussion until at last, the team settled on the best approach to each process. Each process was carefully reviewed – from the new Quick Search, to book download table and list views, sign up for individuals and organizations, and volunteer processes. Even the underlying database that tracks books and membership was redesigned to accommodate the rapid growth and anticipate the future size of the collection and membership. From these high level designs, the engineers began to write the code, line by line. Other teams inside and outside our company tested the new processes to be sure the processes worked and were accessible. Some of you assisted with the external testing; your feedback was invaluable! Writers and content experts began documenting all the processes, questions and content. Finally, the Bookshare team agreed that the site was ready to launch, eager to let you, our Members, enjoy the new accessibility features, easy book downloading, the new reading tools, new account management options, and many other usability enhancements. This new library is a new beginning. In the future, you can look forward to many exciting improvements to support the goal of timely, rapid availability of accessible books for individuals who want them. - Back to Top - Bookshare Partners With Publishers
One of the books for young readers that the Hachette Book Group is making available to Bookshare. By Robin Seaman Bookshare partners with publishers to make thousands of digital books available to people with print disabilities. The Publisher Partnership Program allows Bookshare members to download best-selling books simultaneously with their release in print. Bookshare expects to announce a number of new partnership agreements with major publishers this year. The first such agreement was announced in February when Bookshare and Hachette Book Group (HBG) entered into a partnership that broke new ground in the publishing industry. Hachette agreed to donate digital files for all its 1,700 currently digitized frontlist and backlist titles. Hachette will also refer all customer service requests for accessible books to Bookshare for fulfillment. "We are proud to partner with Bookshare to help the print disabled community to acquire and read the authors and content that the Hachette Book Group edits and distributes," said Maja Thomas, SVP Hachette Book Group Audio and Digital Publishing. "Through this partnership, we will be able to support a community in need by giving access to books and content in an efficient and timely manner." Bookshare’s conversion and distribution of accessible books from publishers’ digital files significantly reduces the time and expense required by publishers to provide books in accessible formats for people with print disabilities. Hachette Book Group is a leading trade publisher based in New York and is a division of Hachette Livre, the second-largest publisher in the world. Hachette Book Group’s product lines include adult, illustrated, religious, children’s and audio books under the Little, Brown and Company, Little Brown Books for Young Readers, Grand Central Publishing, FaithWords, Center Street, Orbit, Yen Press and Hachette Book Group Digital Media imprints. Bookshare has agreements in place with HarperCollins, Random House, The Perseus Books Group, O'Reilly Media, Scholastic, Brookings InstitutionPress, and a host of other publishers. - Back to Top - Bookshare Member A.J. Snitko
Bookshare student member A.J. Snitko, who attends the University of Alabama, is taking classes towards a degree in mechanical engineering. By Mario Oliveros Last December, the Huntsville Times newspaper of Huntsville, Alabama published a story about Bookshare student member A.J. Snitko. The story noted that A.J., a talented young man with cerebral palsy, uses Bookshare to access reading materials for his college classes at the University of Alabama. Before he had access to Bookshare, A.J. relied on his parents to read and study. "At home, Mom and Dad are his hands," his mother Shelly Snitko told the Huntsville Times. The story, entitled "New Technology Makes Tasks Easier for Disabled Students," was spotted by Laura Parks, an Assistive Technology Specialist with Technology Assistance for Special Consumers (TASC) which is affiliated with the United Cerebral Palsy of Huntsville and Tennessee Valley. Parks, who works with A.J., says Bookshare has allowed A.J. to become far more independent. "It’s been amazing to see how much A.J. is benefiting from the Bookshare Library!" said Parks. "He no longer waits for audio tapes or requires someone to position his books for him. He is independently requesting and accessing digitized books for school and for pleasure." A.J. is 2006 graduate of Bob Jones High School and enjoys his online activities. "I've been attending the University of Alabama in Huntsville and taking classes toward a mechanical engineering degree," says A.J. "I've just started playing computer games and keeping my Facebook page up-to-date." A.J. and his family learned about Bookshare through the Bookshare Partner Program, which works with local and national organizations to educate parents and students about the benefits of the Bookshare library. The Bookshare Partner Program sponsored a pilot program in Huntsville, Alabama through the national Alliance for Technology Access (ATA) and its member organization TASC to conduct outreach and education to rural and low-income communities. If you have a local story to share or are interested in learning more about partnering with Bookshare, please let us know and help us get the word out. Special thanks to the ATA and TASC staff and A.J. Snitko for this remarkable story. - Back to Top - The Bookshare Team ExpandsBy Ann Harrison Bookshare added two key members to its team this winter. We are pleased to introduce Betsy Beaumon and Amy McNeely who both play important roles in the continuing expansion of the Bookshare library. Betsy Beaumon is the new Vice President and General Manager of the Benetech Literacy Program which includes both Bookshare and the Route 66 Literacy project. Beaumon is responsible for directing all aspects of Bookshare operations, marketing and engineering. She manages Bookshare’s external relationships and partnerships to assure that Bookshare offers its members the highest quality digital texts. Beaumon served for more than twenty years as technology executive and entrepreneur. She is a former Senior Director for BEA Systems, Inc. and managed international e-business initiatives for Cisco Systems, Inc. In 1995, Beaumon founded Social Online Service, the first web-based information and referral service for social service organizations. As Executive Director of the company, Beaumon was an early supporter of web accessibility standards. Beaumon was also one of the founders of TradeBeam Inc., a provider of global trade management software services. Beaumon earned a BSEE from Northwestern University. She has an extensive background in operations, marketing, product management, implementation services, training and strategic partnerships. Active in volunteer work, Beaumon taught English classes to adult students in Tanzania last year. Amy McNeely is Bookshare’s new librarian. McNeely’s first major task is updating the subject headings assigned to books in Browse: Categories. McNeely is also creating a collection development plan for Bookshare to acquire new books, especially books for student members. She will advise Bookshare on library procedure and policies and conduct research and reference for other staff members. McNeely will also reach out to other librarians who don’t yet know about Bookshare and encourage them to get involved with the Bookshare library. "Bookshare will still set itself apart by being a library for the people, by the people, and we will continue to follow a volunteer scanning model in conjunction with scanning and data acquisition from publishers," said McNeely. McNeely has been working in libraries since 2000 and has a career certificate in library technology from Sacramento City College. She received her Master’s Degree of Library and Information Science from UCLA in 2006. She was a National Library of Medicine Fellow from 2006-2007, and then went on to work at the NYU School of Medicine Ehrman Medical Library as the metadata librarian until the end of 2008. McNeely notes that metadata is simply information about information. Examples include tables of contents, subjects, ISBNs, track names in iTunes, the date a Microsoft Word Document was last saved, and all the tags added in Flickr, YouTube, and Facebook. All of the information on a book description page in Bookshare is metadata, including the title, synopsis, book quality, and so forth. Here are some unusual librarian duties that McNeely has tackled:
- Back to Top - University PartnersBy Cherie Miller In 2003, Indiana University shared over 500 scanned books with Bookshare and created the first Bookshare university partnership. Since then, other colleges and universities have followed suit, contributing over 1,000 books for use by post-secondary students worldwide. Today, Ohio State University, Michigan State University, University of Idaho, University of Montana and De Anza Community College have joined Indiana University as founding University Partners. These partners contributed books scanned on their campuses to Bookshare to expand the collection of accessible college textbooks for students with print disabilities, and eliminate the need for each campus to scan its own books. Across the country, most college campuses have local textbook scanning and conversion programs to provide accessible books to students on that one campus. Bookshare urges campuses to "scan once, and share man." Bookshare’s University Partner program is now strengthening its relationships with the university community. In addition to sharing books, Bookshare will communicate closely with partner universities about topics related to improving the availability of accessible books for post-secondary students. With over 44,900 books in the Bookshare collection, qualified post-secondary students now have a large library of accessible books for research, pleasure reading, catching up on the news, as well as for school work. Over the coming years, Bookshare will continually expand the collection to ensure that all students with print disabilities can find the books they need. - Back to Top - Textbooks For Students When They Need ThemBy Susie McKinnon Chad, a high school student from Santa Teresa High in San Jose, CA, is looking forward to college in a few years. Once he graduates and moves on to college, Chad hopes to continue studying history, his favorite subject. Chad has cerebral palsy and reading bound print books is physically challenging for him. He has often torn the pages of his books while trying to turn the pages, and on many occasions has resorted to having his mother read books for him. Chad’s mother Debbie learned about Bookshare and signed him up for a membership to see if accessible digital books could help her son read more independently. At the time, Debbie thought that Bookshare’s library consisted only of literature and leisure reading. Debbie and Chad downloaded HumanWare’s e-book reader software tool, Victor Reader Soft, from the Bookshare website and then a book from the Bookshare library. Chad found that his local school district had an account with Bookshare and asked his school to download his school history textbook. Chad enjoyed his reading independence and wondered if there was a way to get textbooks for his history assignments in the same digital accessible format. Using Bookshare’s Quick Search feature, he typed in the title "The American Pageant: A History Of The Republic." Much to his surprise, Chad found the book in the Bookshare library! Chad’s history textbook was added to the library through Bookshare’s relationship with the NIMAC, the National Instructional Materials Access Center. The NIMAC is a national repository set up by the U.S. government for U.S. K-12 textbook publishers to deposit recently published textbooks in digital formats. Students with print disabilities and an Individual Education Program (IEP), working with their local and state education agencies, can get NIMAC textbooks. Bookshare assists states by converting books from the NIMAC into formats students can use. Once the book has been converted, it is added to the Bookshare library for all qualified members to read. Chad found that his local school district had an account with Bookshare and asked his school to get him more history textbooks from the NIMAC. Chad is now able to study for his history assignments more quickly and independently. Chad has also discovered that by using the ‘find’ feature in the reader software, he is able to easily locate specific topics in the book he’s looking for – a feature which helps him write papers assigned at school. Chad says he looks forward to continuing his membership with Bookshare after high school and anticipates that the library, and its textbooks, will help him with his studies throughout college. - Back to Top - Accessibility Tips From Bookshare Volunteers
By Pavi Mehta
Bookshare's growing library owes a great deal to its virtual community of over 1400 volunteers. Logging in from remote locations all over the country, these dedicated individuals scan and proofread books for the collection. Since many Bookshare volunteers have print disabilities themselves, we asked them to help us come up with five key accessibility challenges that they commonly encounter on websites. The Bookshare library has incorporated many of these features and suggestions into its new design. The perspectives of our volunteers are deeply informed by their personal experience. Below are their observations and suggestions. 5 Key Website Accessibility Challenges
The World Accessibility Initiative develops guidelines widely regarded as the international standard for Web accessibility. Visit their website to learn more www.w3.org/WAI/ We would like to thank Bookshare volunteers Jackie McBride, Monica Willyard, Monica Svopa, Rick Roderick and Elizabeth Aldworth for contributing to this story. - Back to Top - AnnouncementsBookshare Story ContestWant to share your best Bookshare experience? Has Bookshare changed your life in a unique and significant way? Enter your story for a chance to win! Following the launch of our new site, we want to give our loyal Bookshare members the opportunity to share their stories with the rest of the community. Everyone’s story is special in its own way, so tell us how you use Bookshare in your everyday life. What assistive technology do you use with Bookshare? Why do you use Bookshare and how has Bookshare made an impact on your life? What is your best Bookshare memory? This is a contest and there will be winners, so please use your creativity! Only Bookshare members are eligible to win. To enter the contest CLICK HERE. Official contest rules:Must be current Bookshare Member. You can submit your story via video, MP3 or text/Braille formats. Make your video or MP3 a minute or less and your text document no more than one page in length.
Contest runs from March 16, 2009 – April, 31, 2009
If winner is a minor, a parent consent form will have to be signed.
One winner will be chosen from each of the following categories:
Prizes:Grand prize: Your choice of the Victor Reader Stream, the Classmate Reader or an Apple I-Touch. Other prizes: Bookshare Attire and logo items. All winners will have their video posted on the Bookshare website. - Back to Announcements - Bookshare Training WebinarsUpcoming trainings will include more information on how to read and download books using our free e-book reader software, Victor Reader Soft and READ:Out Loud. We will also feature a future webinar on how to get textbooks from the National Instructional Materials Access Center (NIMAC). Free online webinars for Parents
Free online webinars for Educators
All Pacific Time
Free online webinars for Universities
More free trainings coming soon, please check
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New Bookshare VideosBookshare completed ten new videos last year that profiled student members plus their parents and teachers. Some of these videos also demonstrate how Bookshare is used and provide a "How-To" look at Bookshare in the classroom. While producing these videos, Benetech Communications Director Ann Harrison traveled to schools in Lowville, New York, Albuquerque, New Mexico and Talladega, Alabama. The entire Bookshare staff would like to send out a special thanks to Bookshare student members Steffon Middleton, Alex Clark, Jessica Pinto, Shane McKnight, Curtis Holman and their families for participating in this project. Many thanks also to Bookshare teacher member Jill Dunaway at the Alabama School for the Blind. We are also grateful to teacher Mary Case at Lowville Academy, parents Mary Pinto and Kelly Clark and the following educators at the Albuquerque Public Schools for their invaluable support for this project: Heather Morrison, Megan Shanley, Rye Bailey, Gwen Sanchez, Renee Huber, Marjorie Quine-Smith, Valerie Dalton and Anne Pierce-Jones. You can view these videos on YouTube and TeacherTube by searching for Bookshare.org. Or you can view these videos on the Bookshare website. - Back to Announcements - New Bookshare Stats
- Back to Announcements - Hot BooksThe most requested titles in the Bookshare collection are the Harry Potter books which continue to be the top most requested books in the library. Other popular books during this winter season are titles from the New York Times bestsellers list including: Plum Spooky, by Janet Evanovich, The Associate, by John Grisham, and Animals Make Us Human, by Temple Grandin. - Back to Announcements - |
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