Bookshare Blog

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…

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Published November 11, 2010

What We’re Reading {November 11 2010} Special Veteran’s Day Edition

Today we celebrate Veterans Day (also known as Armistice Day or Remembrance Day), a time to look back at the sacrifices members of the military and their families have made. In honor of the holiday, this special post provides books in the Bookshare collection that focus on the military, their families, and remembrance. I’ve also included books authored by veterans that share deeply personal experiences of war. We hope you enjoy the recommendations. Thank you to all who have served and are serving our country. Bookshare Military Special Collection: Books by or for veterans: Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and…

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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…

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Published November 4, 2010

Sunrise or Tsunami – The Rise of Digital Books in the Classroom

As surely as the sun rises every day, digital books are steadily, daily finding their way into classrooms. Their arrival will not flood our classrooms like a tsunami; rather they will appear because of the foresight and talent of leading educators who recognize the many benefits of digital books and know how to incorporate them into teaching strategies. If, when, why, and how digital books will appear in classrooms are all good questions for discussion; however, a less common, extremely important question is the format of these digital books. Ideally, digital books will be “accessible” books from the beginning, with…

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Published October 19, 2010

Wait for Superman? Or Borrow His Cape!

I had the opportunity to watch “Waiting for Superman” last week, and as promised, the movie exposes many flaws in our educational system and discouraging statistics about student performance. The U.S. currently ranks 23rd out of 29 of the top world economies in graduation rates. The movie portrays failures in administration, teaching, and attitudes. It portrays “drop out factories,” or high schools with inordinately high percentages of high school drop outs. It also exposes motivation and eagerness on the part of some students, the qualities that as a nation we need to recognize and encourage. The movie follows five students…

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Published October 18, 2010

Assistive Technology Center in Qatar Partners with Bookshare

500 Qatari Citizens Gain Access to World’s Largest Accessible Collection of Copyrighted Content People with disabilities in Qatar now have a place where they can fully develop their potential thanks to Mada (the Qatar Assistive Technology Center) which has been working to connect people to the technology that will improve their lives. Mada recently announced a partnership with Bookshare to provide 500 individuals with print disabilities in Qatar access to over 13,000 accessible English-language books in Bookshare. The center will give anyone with a qualifying print disability who wishes to join Bookshare a one-year membership allowing them to download and read any number…

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Published October 15, 2010

What We’re Reading {October 15 2010}

This week’s What We’re Reading brings you five of October’s best sellers. Something for every age group. The Heroes of Olympus, Book One: The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan — Heroes of Olympus will be a five-book series. It is set in Percy Jackson’s world, and Percy has an important role to play in the series. At different points in the series, you will get to catch up with most of the characters from the first series, but The Lost Hero also features a new cast of main characters, so Riordan has been careful not to call it a “Percy Jackson series.”…

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Published October 11, 2010

What We’re Reading {October 11 2010}

Apologies for not getting the What We’re Reading post up last Friday! Instead, we’re bringing you this special Monday edition of What We’re Reading. In light of the recent bullying tragedies that have made headlines across the U.S., I thought it appropriate to share some wonderfully written books that address the topic of bullying. Each of these books is recommended for grades 9 – 12. Names Will Never Hurt Me by Jaime Adoff — Deftly interweaving the narratives of four unique, vivid teenagers, this powerful novel explores the enormous repercussions of daily school teasing, racism, and ostracism. Each of the teens reveal their deepest feelings and…

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Published October 7, 2010

Free MP3 Players Help Students with Print Disabilities

Corporate philanthropy greatly aids students with print disabilities in need of technology to read books and study! The post about Collaborative Philanthropy in August described a summer initiative to find donations of “low tech,” such as MP3s and thumb drives, to give tech-needy students alternate ways to read books. Well, we now extend our sincere thanks to SanDisk Corporation for hearing the need and responding. SanDisk generously donated 100 MP3 players and 250 thumb drives to Bookshare for students without access to technology outside of school to use to read. How would you use these low-tech devices? At school, teachers…

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Published October 5, 2010

Nichole Maples Wants People with Disabilities to Share her Joy of Reading

In rural Tupelo Mississippi, there’s a teenager who cannot speak or hold a book, yet is so passionate about encouraging people to read, she visits her local library to make sure reading happens for people like her. Nichole Maples, now 17, has severe Athetoid Cerebral Palsy, a disability caused by damage to the cerebellum or basal ganglia, an area of the brain that coordinates body movements. Nichole has little control of anything except her eyes, but she loves to read with the help of her computer and can listen to stories read aloud. For this bright young gal, reading has…

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