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Category: Bookshare features

Published March 1, 2018

Chromebook Accessibility Hack of the Week: Bookshare Web Reader + Read and Write for Google

By guest author Hillary Goldthwait-Fowles, PhD, ATP What a great fortune it is to work in an environment where every student is issued a Chromebook in grades 1-8. This is a HUGE game changer in the delivery of AT. In working with students who require AEM (Accessible Educational Materials), we use Bookshare, a free service that provides hundreds of thousands of print materials to qualifying individuals. Bookshare suggests many reading tools  that have been selected by users. On the Chromebook side, we have been using the Bookshare Web Reader, which is integrated into Chrome. However, for some of the students I work…

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You Have Questions – Bookshare Customer Support Team Has AnswersQuestions appears on one sign and answers appears on a second sign
Published February 9, 2018

You Have Questions – Bookshare Customer Support Team Has Answers

By Nicholas Bowen, Bookshare Customer Support Manager Every day the Bookshare Customer Support team receives questions from members through many channels: telephone, email, website contact forms, Twitter, Facebook, Discussion Forum, and at conferences. Certain questions come up repeatedly, so here is an initial attempt to solve a few mysteries, resolve conundrums, and spread general enlightenment. Look for additional blogs covering more questions – from basic to advanced — down the road. Bookshare Customer Support Team is Small, but Mighty To give you some perspective, here are some impressive 2017 statistics about the Customer Support team that supports over 550,000 members:…

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Bookshare Hits Big Milestones in 20178 people in a line hold hands stretched overhead
Published December 18, 2017

Bookshare Hits Big Milestones in 2017

As 2017 draws to a close, it’s time to look back and celebrate key milestones and accomplishments. But first, a message from a parent: “My son loved Huckleberry Finn! It was a joy to watch him laugh as he listened and read. Amazing. He has an A in English with the support of Bookshare.” Collection Passes Half a Million Mark Our goal is to make all books and print materials accessible. There was a time when people with disabilities could not find books in audio, braille, or other specialized formats they needed. Today, members have over 585,000 ebooks at the…

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Benetech Secures U.S. Department of Education Award to Expand Access to Bookshare for Students with DisabilitiesThree young students are using a tablet in a classroom
Published November 1, 2017

Benetech Secures U.S. Department of Education Award to Expand Access to Bookshare for Students with Disabilities

Benetech extends reach to make education more inclusive Benetech, the parent company of Bookshare, is pleased to announce that it has received a five-year award from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, to expand and improve access to books for students who read differently due to blindness, low vision, a physical disability, or dyslexia. Bookshare, the largest online library of accessible books, will remain free for all U.S. school districts, schools, educators, and their qualified students. “Access to knowledge through reading is a basic human right and a critical step on the path to economic, educational,…

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Bookshare By the Numbersstacks of books in the shape of a globe
Published October 10, 2017

Bookshare By the Numbers

It was just about a year ago that the Benetech team celebrated 10 million books delivered through our Bookshare library. Shortly thereafter, we celebrated another amazing milestone: access to 500,000 books for Bookshare members. Those milestones speak to Benetech’s ability to use software to tackle social issues—in Bookshare’s case, access to books and information for people with disabilities—and to deliver impact at scale. But those numbers are just part of the Bookshare story. Here are a handful of additional stats to give you a more complete picture of Bookshare’s scale, impact, and reach. (Don’t forget, Bookshare is free for all…

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Back to School with Bookshare: Tips from the Teaching Trenches (Part 3)Back to school is written in chalk on a blackboard
Published September 21, 2017

Back to School with Bookshare: Tips from the Teaching Trenches (Part 3)

Welcome to the third blog in our Back to School with Bookshare series that helps teachers get a strong start to the school year. In this blog, we take you on a tour of Bookshare’s bountiful Special Collections, recognize an award-winning author, and share a few literary gems that students are reading. Special Collections are a Huge Hit Are you looking for books for your students? Bookshare librarians have created over 110 (and growing) lists of specially curated books that will engage your students and keep them reading. Teachers love this feature and have already assigned lists to over 5,000…

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Back to School with Bookshare: Tips from the Teaching Trenches (Part 2)Back to school written on a notebook surrounded by pencils, ruler, scissors
Published August 30, 2017

Back to School with Bookshare: Tips from the Teaching Trenches (Part 2)

Equal access means equal opportunity for students with disabilities Welcome to the second blog in our Back to School with Bookshare series. These blogs help teachers get a strong start to the school year so they can help their students be successful. The first blog featured Special Education Resource Teacher Diane Lurye and the ways she uses Bookshare to encourage reading independence. “Technology is the equalizer for students with disabilities,” says Deirdre Watkins, an Itinerant Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments in the Dekalb County School District in Georgia. She serves sixteen students in pre-K through 12th grade across six…

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Browsing is Better with New and Improved Special CollectionsScreen shot of the Browse page showing 4 special collections
Published July 24, 2017

Browsing is Better with New and Improved Special Collections

By Ginny Grant, Senior Product Manager, Benetech Global Literacy Program Have you noticed something different about Bookshare’s Special Collections? They are much easier to use and you can subscribe to them like a Reading List! After hearing how much people enjoy building their own Reading Lists, and seeing how teachers are using and sharing Reading Lists in their schools, Bookshare went the next step to make Special Collections even easier to use. Special Collections are customized Reading Lists that are curated by the Bookshare Collection Development team. The staff is actively looking for books that members will enjoy and organizing them…

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