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Uncover Forgotten Hollywood Trailblazer with May Book Club SelectionBookshare Book Club Poster
Published April 30, 2019

Uncover Forgotten Hollywood Trailblazer with May Book Club Selection

Welcome again to the Bookshare Book Club! Each month Bookshare staff will choose a book for members to read before hosting a discussion on the last Friday of the month. The conversation will take place on Bookshare Twitter, using the hashtag #BKSBookClub. While we have created this club with adult Bookshare members in mind, everyone is welcome to join, including non-Bookshare members. May’s book will be The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick by Mallory O’Meara. Milicent Patrick brought Creature from the Black Lagoon to life with her monster designs, but her…

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School Transitions Can Be Tough: Here’s HelpFour students sitting outside reading ebooks in devices
Published April 22, 2019

School Transitions Can Be Tough: Here’s Help

As the end of the school year looms, teachers can take these steps now to ensure smooth transitions for students. Spring is a time of excitement and anticipation. Students, teachers, and parents can look forward to wrapping up another school year and recharging over the summer. Spring can also be busy and stressful preparing for transitions. Whether students will move on to a new grade, school, or life after school, make sure they take along the tools and resources that have helped them be successful. The following guides will help students with reading barriers keep access to their Bookshare books…

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Student with Dyslexia Discovers What It’s Like to Read [Video]Emery holding a tablet with drawing in the back
Published April 10, 2019

Student with Dyslexia Discovers What It’s Like to Read [Video]

Meet Emery. Emery is a sixth grade student from Garland, Texas. At the age of seven, Emery was diagnosed with dyslexia and thought she would never learn how to read. Emery would get frustrated because she could not understand the words she was reading on a page or read like her peers. With the support of her family and dyslexia resources like Bookshare, Emery’s reading and school experience improved. Using specialized audiobooks from Bookshare, she learned how to track sentences and decode words. She discovered that there was more to reading beyond word for word and experienced what it was…

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Spring Into April with Bookshare Book Club SelectionBookshare Book Club with Severance by Ling Ma book cover
Published April 5, 2019

Spring Into April with Bookshare Book Club Selection

Welcome again to the Bookshare Book Club! Each month Bookshare staff will choose a book for members to read before hosting a discussion on the last Friday of the month. The conversation will take place on Bookshare Twitter, using the hashtag #BKSBookClub. While we have created this club with adult Bookshare members in mind, everyone is welcome to join, including non-Bookshare members. April’s book is Severance by Ling Ma. Part zombie apocalypse, part office culture, and part coming-of-age novel, Severance follows second-generation, Chinese American, Candace Chen, a disillusioned, millennial office worker in New York. One of the few survivors of…

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What Apps Do Bookshare Members Use?Paper saying Feedback is on a desk with an iPhone and a pen
Published March 21, 2019

What Apps Do Bookshare Members Use?

Bookshare’s ebook library is one of the most versatile resources for people with reading barriers. In addition to having over 700,000 titles, members can read on almost any device, platform, and a host of compatible partner apps. Over 400 Bookshare users responded to our 2018 Technology Survey and shared their most used apps and technologies. So what are the most popular? Let’s break it down.

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Announcing the Bookshare Book ClubBookshare Book Club
Published March 7, 2019

Announcing the Bookshare Book Club

Bookshare has long been a community of book lovers who read everything from mystery to romance to spy novels. The only thing we love more than reading books is talking about books. With that in mind, we’re delighted to announce the launch of our new book club! Each month Bookshare staff will choose a book for members to read before hosting a discussion on the last Friday of the month. The conversation will take place on Bookshare Twitter, using the hashtag #BKSBookClub. While we have created this club with adult Bookshare members in mind, everyone is welcome to join, including…

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Bookshare By the NumbersBoy reading on a laptop and wearing headphones in a classroom
Published March 5, 2019

Bookshare By the Numbers

At the end of 2017, I shared Bookshare by the Numbers. Since then, our collection and membership has continued to grow and reach new milestones. We have added over 100,000 more members and delivered 2,000,000 more books. We’ve expanded to new countries and added new publisher partners, allowing Bookshare to reach more people with more books than ever before. These numbers show the scale at which software can be used to build a more inclusive future, in this case by providing people with reading barriers with a means to read and access information in ways that work for them. To…

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How Bookshare is Closing the Literacy Gap in Alaska (Part 2)LenaMarie, Mystie, and another teacher use tablets and laptop computers to read books
Published February 27, 2019

How Bookshare is Closing the Literacy Gap in Alaska (Part 2)

In Part 1, we learned how Mystie Rail, Executive Director of Assistive Technology of Alaska, provides resources for Alaskans with disabilities. In Part 2, we learn how high school student LenaMarie leverages Bookshare, Voice Dream Reader, and other resources to succeed in her classes. LenaMarie is seventeen and lives in Utqiagvik (formerly Barrow) which lies 320 miles north of the Arctic Circle. She was diagnosed with dyslexia and dysgraphia and also experiences anxiety. School was very challenging, and she often felt like a failure. Her parents urged the school to provide more accommodations like assistive technology (AT) and accessible instructional…

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How Bookshare is Closing the Literacy Gap in Alaska (Part 1)LenaMarie shows how she uses a tablet to read accessible ebooks
Published February 25, 2019

How Bookshare is Closing the Literacy Gap in Alaska (Part 1)

This two-part blog describes Alaska’s approach to providing assistive technology resources to support reading and the positive effect on people with disabilities In 2000, Mystie Rail moved to Anchorage, Alaska, for what she thought would only be one year. Nineteen years later, she still resides in Alaska administering assistive technology support services throughout the state. Mystie is the Executive Director of Assistive Technology of Alaska (ATLA), a nonprofit organization that provides accessible and cost-effective technology solutions that promote independent living and success for residents with disabilities “from twinkle to wrinkle,” says Mystie. Alaska’s geographic, linguistic, economic, and cultural diversity present challenges to…

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