September 2011 - Bookshare Blog

Published September 23, 2011

Does Bookshare Have the Books and Textbooks I Need?

This question comes up frequently and doesn’t have a clear “yes” or “no” answer. Every month Bookshare adds more of the books our Members want! We process hundreds of textbooks based on student requests and add lots of postsecondary titles from university partners. We added over 16,000 new books to our collection from April to June this year, including New York Times bestsellers as well as hundreds of new textbooks. Please consider some facts. Bookshare now has over 125,000 books; teachers and professors regularly assign many of these books as required reading. Over 6000 are classified as textbooks. Publishers have…

Announcing the Winners of “Bookshare Everywhere” Summer Contest!

Congratulations to all our summer contest participants on a job well done! 398 students, from Kindergarten to college, participated in making Bookshare’s third annual summer contest a success. This year’s theme, “Bookshare Everywhere,” celebrated summer reading and encouraged students to take Bookshare books wherever they went. Students participated by reading as many books as they could and sharing where they read books this summer and how they made summer fun! Ready to meet the prize winners? Drum roll please! Grand Prize: This year’s grand prize iPad 2 was awarded to the contestant who came closest to guessing the total number…

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Published September 12, 2011

California Teacher Empowers Learning Independence

Impressions from a School Visit It’s a busy time for Leslie Anido, special education teacher in San Jose, CA. She teaches fifth graders with physical disabilities preparing to transition to middle school. “It is very difficult for students with physical disabilities to access traditional print,” said Ms. Anido, when I was there recently for a training with her class about Bookshare and digital books. At the time of my visit, Ms. Anido invited a former student back to her classroom. She was preparing for college which made Ms. Anido very proud. In the training, we discussed how to search for…

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Published September 8, 2011

Assistive Technology Spotlight – Read2Go

We often get asked, “What works with Bookshare books?” So on occasion, we’ll feature the latest and greatest assistive technologies that our members can use. This week, we are pleased to feature Read2Go, our new accessible e-reader app for the Apple iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. For quite some time, our members have been asking for an app that they could use with Bookshare books on these popular Apple devices. We listened and are excited to say that Read2Go not only makes reading Bookshare books accessible on Apple products, but also super simple. Read2Go allows you to find, download, and…

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Published September 1, 2011

Graduate Student Finds Books in Bookshare

Many thanks to Lauren Conner, graduate student, for sharing her story. Lauren Conner stumbled across Bookshare last year looking for postsecondary accessible books for her studies in Community and College Counseling. She attends Longwood University in Virginia and has impaired vision. “When I look for a textbook on psycho-pathology, ethics or behavior modification, I am thrilled that the digital book is already in Bookshare’s online library collection,” said Lauren. “Another member must have taken the same course and requested all the required books that I need. I love that!” Since birth, Lauren’s visual impairment made it difficult for her to…

Month: September 2011

Does Bookshare Have the Books and Textbooks I Need?

Announcing the Winners of “Bookshare Everywhere” Summer Contest!

California Teacher Empowers Learning Independence

Assistive Technology Spotlight – Read2Go

Graduate Student Finds Books in Bookshare