Bookshare Blog

Published August 19, 2010

What You’re Reading {August 2010}

Bookshare Members have a lot to say about the books they read. And you share your thoughts, comments and recommendations with us on a regular basis. So, we thought that you might like to hear what other Members have to say about the books they are reading. With this post, we are introducing a new monthly post called “What You’re Reading.” This month we’re featuring some of our high school Members’ recommendations. Dead in the Family (Southern Vampire Mysteries #10) by Charlaine Harris – The #1 New York Times bestselling Sookie Stackhouse series – the basis for HBO’s True Blood –…

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Published August 17, 2010

Calling all parents!

Parents, we want to know what you’re reading to or with your kids. Please comment and let us know who your kids favorite authors and characters are, what their favorite series is, and the books you think every kid should read. Below we’ve shared some of our favorites. Amelia Bedelia’s First Day of School by Herman Parish A literal-minded young girl’s first day of school is filled with confusing adventures, much to her delight. Meet AMELIA BEDELIA! She’s shorter and she’s younger than the one you know. And her only job is having fun. But she’ll make you laugh all the same! If You Take…

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Published August 14, 2010

Summer Volunteers Make Exceptional Contributions

This post was contributed by Geneva Vander Poel in the Bookshare operations team. Bookshare is proud of its strong community of dedicated volunteers. Since 2002, we have depended on volunteers to keep the library stocked with relevant titles — books that our members are eager to read. Year round, a dedicated group of people work diligently to grow the collection. Without their efforts, Bookshare would not have as many accessible titles today (more than 80,000) to serve over 100,000 members. Summertime presents a unique opportunity for volunteering in our Palo Alto offices. Since schools are out of session and student…

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Published August 12, 2010

End of Summer Reading for Tweens and Teens!

Summer is the perfect opportunity to catch up on reading, plus maintain and strengthen reading comprehension and fluency skills. And with just a few weeks left before school starts, now is the time to do some end of summer reading! Once the school year begins, most students will be too busy keeping up with their class assignments to read merely for pleasure. Over the summer Bookshare has added thousands of books, including many popular titles tweens and teens will love to read. In fact, did you know that Bookshare has the entire Twilight series, the Pretty Little Liars series, and the complete collection of Percy Jackson and the Olympians? Download…

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Published August 2, 2010

A Few Weeks Left This Summer to Read and Move

From legislation to lunchtime reading, the U.S. Department of Education and the Office of Special Education Programs care about literacy in this country. Picture the U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, holding a book, and Kareem Dale, the Special Assistant to the President for Disability Policy, reading If I Ran for President in braille to about 100 attentively listening young kids, ages 4-8, and their parents. Soon Congressman Jim Langevin from Rhode Island joined the group and read House Mouse, Senate Mouse. The event was the Department of Education’s “Let’s Read. Let’s Move” summer enrichment program on July 30 in…

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Published July 30, 2010

Is Braille Now Optional?

Is learning braille now optional? If so, why? Or is optional braille another example of the weakness in today’s educational system – decried by the Obama administration – that allows students to get by, not learn the tough subjects, and not graduate ready for college or a career? In letting today’s youth skip braille, are we handcuffing them for life? Most would agree that learning can occur auditorily and that for many, auditory learning is the preferred mode. Many software applications (including those available from Bookshare) and devices render printed content as spoken language for readers with visual impairments and…

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Published July 23, 2010

A Family with Disabilities Volunteers for Bookshare

Hello Bookshare Readers! Our family has taken so much pride in volunteering for Bookshare. I want to thank everyone who makes volunteering such a joy! Before Bookshare, our family could count on one hand how many books we had read together. I have severe dyslexia, my husband, Doug is a quadriplegic and my daughter, Nichole, has cerebral palsy. We first became acquainted with Bookshare about six years ago when our older daughter, Cindy, wanted to be able to read books in a digital format. She passed away four years ago at the time Nichole, our second daughter, was starting to…

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Published July 20, 2010

Postsecondary Students Benefit from Individual Memberships

A University of Michigan – Flint student, with an individual membership says “Bookshare Rocks!” Ashley Seymour, a college junior majoring in health care at the University of Michigan-Flint, has been blind since birth. She says, “Bookshare is expanding fast! It’s easy for me to get my books from one source. I don’t have to wait. I just download my books, convert to MP3 files for my iPod, and go to class.” Ashley has found books and background information in communications, ethics, literature, psychology and medical sciences. She uses Bookshare to find material for reports, study biographies and locate accessible titles…

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Published July 13, 2010

University Partners Help Each Other

Bookshare’s University Partners Program has grown substantially. Today, 25 university partners (please see the list below) regularly contribute books they have scanned on their local campuses to benefit U.S. students with print disabilities. By pooling books scanned on campuses in Bookshare, university partners help each other reduce the nationwide challenge and workload of providing accessible books for postsecondary students. Scanning once and sharing saves costs associated with scanning and conversion. Finding a textbook that a student needs gets easier and takes less time; campus DSS staff are saying that more and more, they are finding books their students need in…

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Published July 9, 2010

NFB 2010: Hot Weather or Human Warmth?

Texas treated NFB 2010 attendees to hot, humid, Texas-like weather, but the weather couldn’t hold a candle to the infectious human warmth inside the conference hall, in spite of the air conditioning. From this conference, I am redoubled in my conviction that coping with challenges in life makes people better people, and knowing people who live with challenges of any variety makes all of us better people. The NFB 2010 convention reminded me of this principle. Nowhere has there been a gathering that exuded goodness and warmth and caring than the group gathered at NFB. It wasn’t just the outpouring…

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