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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CEO Credits Bookshare for Unlocking His Love of Reading
“I’ve read more books this year than I’ve read in my lifetime,” says Stan Gloss, CEO of BioTeam, Inc. Diagnosed with dyslexia over 50 years ago, Stan Gloss grew up with angst and worry about his reading difficulties. He recalls long hours muddling through printed books at a snail’s pace. Stan loved to learn, but his reading difficulty made comprehension and studying three times harder than for other students. “I learned to persevere by using compensatory strategies like memorization, flash cards, rewriting notes, tape recording classes, finger tracking, and highlighting to help me through school,” he says. “Even in graduate…
3 CommentsBookshare’s Criteria for Adding Post-Secondary Education Ebooks to Its Collection
Bookshare expands its accessible ebook collection for higher education through partnerships with publishers and university presses During a recent discussion on AERNet (Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired), questions arose about Bookshare’s policies on converting books for higher education. Here is the explanation from Jim Fruchterman, CEO of Benetech, that we felt was important to share with the larger Bookshare community. Bookshare is a library focused on books that can be shared. Our dream is that once a book has been digitized, nobody else will have to do scanning work again. We need to do that within…
Leave a CommentWhat’s Next for Bookshare Members after College?
Bookshare enriches the lives of people with print disabilities well beyond school into their adult lives. Often members tell us they now enjoy exploring new interests and hobbies and finding resources to help them with their careers. Members stay connected to the world through local and national news. They catch up on the hottest books their friends are reading, and they pursue lifelong learning. Our staff is catching up with college students about how they plan to use Bookshare after school, and today’s blog features Amber Steet, a Bookshare member since the ninth grade. Meet Amber Steet Amber has a…
Leave a CommentCollege Bridge Program Helps Teens with Learning Disabilities Transition to Postsecondary
GUEST BLOG POST: BY JENNIFER JOLLIFF AND SARA SMITH, PROGRAM COORDINATORS AT MISSION MIDDLE COLLEGE Recently, we caught up with Jennifer Jolliff and Sara Smith, Program Coordinators at Mission Middle College, CA, to talk about their college bridge program in the Santa Clara School District. This collaboration gives high school seniors who are not performing well academically a second chance at making successful transitions to college. In this blog, Jennifer and Sara describe how students with learning disabilities feel about attending college and their approach to provide a new learning environment. They also offer some great recommended reading resources. Believing…
Leave a CommentVision Loss Hasn’t Stopped Veteran from Pursuing Career and Personal Goals
Brian Higgins is a six-year member of Bookshare. He is also a member of the Blinded Veterans Association (BVA) and a Supervisor of Computer Access and Technology in the Western Blind Rehab Center located in Palo Alto, California. Brian likes the Bookshare library because of its vast collection of titles and the team’s responsiveness to his professional needs. “I’ve taken college textbooks for a Veteran returning to college in to Bookshare and they scan it,” he said. “And I also like to recommend Bookshare’s new special collection of military titles to my friends at the BVA.” At work, Brian trains…
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