General news Archives - Bookshare Blog

Published June 29, 2016

Follow Us to the NFB and ACB 2016 Conventions

The Bookshare team from Benetech is excited to attend two of our favorite conventions — the 76th Annual National Federation of the Blind (NFB) National Convention in Orlando, Florida, from June 30 to July 5, and the 55th Annual Conference and Convention of the American Council of the Blind (ACB) in Minneapolis, Minnesota, from July 1 to July 9, 2016. Benetech salutes these important organizations and their efforts to ensure equal opportunity for blind and visually impaired people. In support, the Benetech / Bookshare team will attend both conventions and looks forward to meeting attendees, rekindling relationships with long-time members…

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Published June 15, 2016

Bookshare Member Amare Leggette Competes in 2016 National Braille Challenge

Amare Leggette, an energetic eight-year-old from Eastover Elementary School in Charlotte, North Carolina, will compete against nine students in the Apprentice age group at the 2016 National Braille Challenge. “Amare is a fast reader and eager learner,” says Holly Jeffries, his teacher of the visually impaired. “He has a natural ability to skim, comprehend, make contractions, and knows when to reread text. He also loves new vocabulary words and enjoys putting them on our school braille word wall. I know he is prepared for the competition and is ready to take home the prize!” Blind since birth, Amare has read…

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Published April 22, 2016

Bookshare’s 400,000th Title Brings Unprecedented Access to Readers with Print Disabilities

Bookshare has added its 400,000th title to the ever-growing online accessible library collection and we are celebrating this record-breaking milestone with you and our 400,000 members around the world! Today, through Bookshare’s extensive collection, any person who cannot read traditional books due to blindness, low vision, dyslexia, and physical disabilities can read and enjoy a huge variety of academic, career, and recreational titles just like everyone else. Glory Over Everything, the sequel to the New York Times bestseller The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom, is the title that helped Bookshare cross the 400,000 threshold. This accomplishment represents an unprecedented level…

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Published April 18, 2016

Texas Librarian Appreciates Bookshare’s Accessible Ebook Collection

Special thanks to Adair Apple, a Librarian in Evans Elementary School, Corpus Christi, TX for sharing the reasons why she chooses Bookshare to support students with print disabilities. “In our district, librarians are responsible for both print and digital accessible resources as well as adaptive technologies. Bookshare is one of the resources we use to support students with qualifying print disabilities, such as visual impairments and physical and learning disabilities that hinder reading. For effective learning, and since many children are more tech-savvy today, we want to get reading resources and technologies into their hands as early as possible. Now,…

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Published April 15, 2016

Appreciation for Bookshare’s Blue Ribbon Volunteers

One of the things that makes Bookshare so special is the community of volunteers that we have the privilege of working with. In recognition of National Volunteer Week (April 10-16), we wanted to acknowledge their contributions and share just how much we appreciate each and every one of them! The Bookshare volunteers are an amazing group of 182 individuals. Over the past year they have scanned, submitted, and proofed over 2,000 books for Bookshare, the world’s largest online accessible library for people with print disabilities. Bookshare receives the majority of its titles in the form of digital files directly from the 850…

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Published March 8, 2016

2016 National Education Technology Plan Resonates with Benetech Priorities of Equity and Accessibility

Benetech is a nonprofit company leveraging Silicon Valley technology and process to create and scale solutions for pressing social issues. Two Benetech initiatives, the DIAGRAM Center and Born Accessible, are cited in The 2016 National Education Technology Plan (NETP) released by the Office of Educational Technology of the U.S. Department of Education. The report recommends that “education stakeholders should develop a born accessible standard of learning resource design to help educators select and evaluate learning resources for accessibility and equity of learning experience.” More significantly, though, all of Benetech’s work closely aligns with these two key themes of the report:…

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Published February 14, 2016

Dear Bookshare…Love Letters to Celebrate the Joy of Reading!

February is the sweetest month of the year, but did you know that it is also Library Lovers Month? So today – Valentine’s Day – we are reminded of the people we love and of the things we love to do, like reading. Across our nation and the world, in tweets, letters and posts, Bookshare members tell us about their use of the online accessible library and their love of reading digital accessible books. Members say that 2016 will be a memorable year for reading, and we agree! Whether you want to improve your reading skills or help a student…

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Published January 30, 2016

Meet the Bookshare Accessible Books for Texas Team at TCEA

TCEA – February 1-5, 2016 – Austin, TX At its annual conference, the Texas Computer Education Association (TCEA) brings together campus- and district-level educators to explore the role of technology in achieving best practices in teaching and learning. This year’s conference will feature more than 900 industry expert and peer-led presentations on technology integration across all curricula areas for pre-K through higher education. Do you support students with print disabilities, such as learning or physical disabilities or visual impairments? Will you be attending TCEA? The Accessible Books for Texas (ABT) team will be on hand in Booth #1856 to demonstrate…

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Published January 28, 2016

Heading to ATIA? Register Now for FREE Bookshare Training Sessions!

ATIA – February 2-5, 2016 – Orlando, FL Attendees of this year’s Assistive Technology Industry Association conference will learn about the latest trends, tools, and best practices in the field of assistive technology that can improve the lives of people with special needs. To learn more about Bookshare and how you can help students with print disabilities get accessible books and educational materials, we invite you to attend our presentations and training events. Bookshare Training at ATIA on Friday, February 5th Register now to reserve your spot in one of the FREE 30-minute Bookshare training sessions throughout the day. There is a…

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Published December 1, 2015

Why We Are #Thankful

The Bookshare community is amazing. It’s over 370,000 people strong with an even larger cast of parents, teachers, and supporters. They live in over seventy countries and read more than a million and a half books every year. They dream big, accomplish great things, and live life to its fullest. The holiday season is a time for thanks, and we at Bookshare are thankful for this community. Let’s meet some of them. Lily loves to read, especially books about horses. She didn’t always like reading though. In fact, Lily disliked it because of her dyslexia. That changed when she started using Bookshare, and…

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Category: General news