December 2012 - Bookshare Blog

Published December 21, 2012

“Bookshare Made a Difference” Contest Winners

Congratulations to all participants in the “Bookshare Made a Difference” Contest. This year, 210 people submitted entries, and over 2,000 people participated in the public voting! All entries were wonderful and very moving; there were some close votes. From your stories, you are all winners! So who are the prize winners? Drum roll please… The Grand Prize goes to Katy Noelani Kingery, the author of the entry, “From Baby Honu to the Ocean!“ The 2nd and 3rd place winners were a tie! Congratulations to Teresa Paporello, the author of the very moving poem, “An Ode to Bookshare” And to Elizabeth (Beth) Heintz…

2 Comments

Published December 13, 2012

Holiday Reading for Everyone!

Best wishes to all for a warm and wonderful holiday season! As holiday books are always fun to read and can add meaningful traditions to the season, we wanted to share a few titles with our readers. If you are looking for something to read this holiday, browse these titles. They are by no means all the holiday books in the collection; if you have a favorite and it isn’t listed, please search for it. The library has many more! A popular list of holiday titles: Twelve Holiday Books for All Ages Recent additions to Bookshare’s holiday collection: Inventing the…

2 Comments

Published December 12, 2012

Bookshare Supports Computer Science Education

This week is Computer Science in Education Week. Congress set the week aside in the fall of 2009 “to recognize the transformative role of computing and the need to bolster computer science at all educational levels.” You can read more about the week and gather educator resources at the CSedweek website; the Computer Science Teachers Association website also has resources. Students with print disabilities can be computer scientists! Two Bookshare members with computer science degrees have shared their inspiring stories: A Computer Science Degree to a Job with Bookshare Bookshare Member Develops Amazing Flight Simulator Game for Blind People For members who…

The Loss of a Longtime Bookshare Friend

Sadly, on the last morning of November, a longtime Bookshare staff member, volunteer, and friend, Mayrie Renae, peacefully died in her sleep. Many Bookshare friends and volunteers are mourning her passing. A friend of hers, Lissi Deren, shared this wonderful eulogy to her life and work with us; we wanted to share it with you. Mayrie wasn’t finished living and loving and being a dynamic force for good in Bookshare, but she was spared increased suffering as her illness worsened. I finally brought myself to write to you because I think it is better for you to hear this from…

1 Comment

Published December 5, 2012

Meet An Image Description Volunteer

Bookshare volunteer, Steven Obenour, lives in Jacksonville, FL. He currently supports the Poet image description project with a special focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) texts. Steven has worked more than 32 years in various technical occupations including manufacturing and process engineering, software development, and the robotics industry. Technical writing is always a big part of his work responsibilities. Steven continues to work in temporary and contract employment positions. He says the volunteer opportunities with Bookshare improve his creativity and writing skills. He enjoys setting daily goals and targets for completion of image descriptions and finds that even…