General news Archives - Page 13 of 16

Published April 15, 2011

Welcome Taylor & Francis to the Bookshare Family of Publishers

Taylor & Francis Group, headquartered in London and one of the world’s leading international academic publishers, has signed an agreement with Bookshare. They will grant world rights to all books added to the collection. Initially they will give us titles that have specifically been requested by our Members. *Members, if you would like to see Taylor & Francis titles added to the collection, please send your requests via our Contact Us form. Select the Requesting a Book title from the drop down. Taylor & Francis (T&F) is a two-hundred-year-old company, founded in the UK in 1798, with 20 offices worldwide,…

Leave a Comment

Published January 31, 2011

Exciting New Apps Seen at ATIA

I walked the hall at ATIA 2011 in Orlando, FL specifically looking for apps for iPads, iPhones, and iPod touches (iOS devices) that simplify life for individuals with disabilities and exemplify the convergence between consumer and assistive devices. At first, I wasn’t sure how many I would find, but it didn’t take long to discover quite a few. As a technology user since the very early days of the Apple II+, I have watched applications and uses of technology continually descend to the lowest common denominator, to the cheapest, smallest platform available. The trend is happening again with the Apple…

2 Comments

Published January 26, 2011

Announcing the Read2Go App: The DAISY reader for Bookshare on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch

Our members talked, and we listened! Announcing the new Read2Go App, the DAISY reader for Bookshare on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. Read2Go is an accessible e-book reader that was developed by Benetech (the parent nonprofit for Bookshare), in partnership with Shinano Kenshi Co. Ltd (best known for its PLEXTALK® brand of digital talking book players). Read2Go is the most full-featured, accessible DAISY reader for the Apple device market. This very easy-to-use app for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch connects directly to Bookshare for immediate on-the-go reading. From within the app, individual users and schools supporting students can…

36 Comments

Published January 26, 2011

Attention MAC Users…Read:OutLoud Version 6 Bookshare Edition 2.0 for MAC and PC Now Available!

Read:OutLoud Version 6 Bookshare Edition with support for Snow Leopard on Macintosh computers is now available! But it’s not just for MAC users. We highly recommend ALL Members upgrade to this version for better performance with large books. Read:OutLoud Version 6 Bookshare Edition is a DAISY reader designed for people with learning disabilities. Read:OutLoud allows users to read multi-modally, take notes, look up definitions and more. It is not recommended for use with screen readers and can only read Bookshare books. Read:OutLoud Version 6 Bookshare Edition includes the following enhancements: • Supports Mac OS 10.4 – 10.6 and Windows XP, Vista, and 7 • Opens books faster • Supports…

Leave a Comment

Published January 19, 2011

Agreement with Leading Independent Book Publisher Brings Eclectic Collection to Bookshare Members

One of the leading independent book publishers in North America, and the largest woman-owned trade book publisher in North America, Sourcebooks, has signed an agreement with Bookshare to provide an extensive selection of titles across its imprints. This partnership means that our Bookshare members will receive access to an eclectic and exciting breadth of Sourcebooks titles. When asked about this partnership, Betsy Beaumon, the Vice President and General Manager of the Literacy Program at Benetech had this to say: “Our agreement with Sourcebooks is especially important because, in addition to their wide-ranging list of general interest titles, they publish several…

4 Comments

Published January 12, 2011

RAND Corporation to Offer Publications through Bookshare

RAND Corporation has entered into an agreement granting Bookshare world rights to distribute its collection of more than 15,000 RAND research publications, reports, and commentary to people with print disabilities. And we think this is pretty exciting! RAND is a fascinating organization, doing some amazing work, and being able to bring their collection to our members will be especially important to our postsecondary and graduate student members. RAND is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decision making through research and analysis. RAND focuses on issues such as health, education, national security, international affairs, law and business, the environment,…

1 Comment

Published December 29, 2010

2010 – A Tremendous Year

2010 has been a tremendous year for the Literacy Program at Benetech. We’ve enjoyed working with all of our members, sponsors, partners, volunteers and funders, and we have much to celebrate together. Thank you for your support in achieving our mission! Bookshare passed a number of major milestones this year: We are now serving over 120,000 people with print disabilities; Our US members now have access to over 95,000 books and periodicals; Users downloaded over 800,000 books in 2010; Under our Bookshare for Education (B4E) project, we passed our 5 year goal of adding 100,000 student members in under 3…

Leave a Comment

Published November 24, 2010

What We’re Reading {November 24 2010}

Dogs. You asked for books that feature guide dogs, dogs who are man’s best friend, loveable dogs, silly dogs, mischievous dogs…everything dogs. So, this week I give you…dogs! I’ve focused this collection on books for all ages. Enjoy these great books, and be sure to comment and let us know what other great dog books are out there. Happy reading! The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon — Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has…

5 Comments

Published November 15, 2010

Bookshare and the Braille Readers Are Leaders Contest

This post is contributed by Allison Hilliker, Bookshare Collection Development Associate. Thank you, Allison! I love Braille! I use Braille everyday for my Bookshare job and in many other areas of my life. All of us at Bookshare think Braille is a terrific tool for many people, and we’re thrilled that we can help make such a wide variety of materials available to our members. Most of you know that the Bookshare library has over 90,000 books available in BRF (Braille Ready Format and DAISY), but did you know that there’s another fun way to enjoy Braille? There is. It’s the Braille…

Leave a Comment

Published November 10, 2010

Reading Skill Improvements, More Reading Choices and Engaged Students!

Special thanks to Jeanette Donelson, special education teacher for sending us this great story. WE ARE INSPIRED! **************** I love Bookshare! The students I serve are in 9th through 12th grade with special needs across the spectrum. I have students with dyslexia, Cerebral Palsy, and severe reading disabilities. Most of them have difficulty reading books and comprehending what they read. With Bookshare, they can now download a textbook, print it out in larger print (which allows them to write notes and highlight), and use the text-to-speech software which is free with Bookshare, to hear the content read aloud. Accessible Curriculum Last…

2 Comments

Category: General news