Bookshare.org for Education Delivering Accessible Textbooks for Every Print Disabled Student in the

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Bookshare.org for Education Delivering
Accessible Textbooks for Every Print Disabled
Student in the United States

• Jim Fruchterman
• Benetech
• Developed for the NIMAS Implementation Advisory
  Council
• ATIA Conference, January, 2007

The Bookshare trademark is under license from
its registered owner, Follett Library Resources
division of Follett Corporation
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Bookshare.org for Education Every print disabled
student, 100,000 new books

• Our goal is to realize the promise of IDEA
• The books students need, in high quality, at the
  same time as their peers, for free
• Freedom to read, freedom to do research in a
  library
• Existing Bookshare.org collection free to all
  schools, all students as of October 1, 2007
• We turned this on over a weekend!
• Only possible because were completely digital
• Greatly expanded textbook work
• Free assistive technology
• Goal is to share the access burden better across
  all SEAs, LEAs, teachers, parents and students

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Bookshare.org Textbooks in NIMAS High quality,
flexible textbooks, fast

• One week turnaround for NIMAS files by end of
  2008
• Directly from the NIMAC or otherwise
• Student-ready files in 7 days
• NIMAC-sourced books only available to K-12
  education agencies and schools
• Images added by end of 2008
• Helps low vision and dyslexic students
• Helpful for blind students when augmenting with
  readers
• Text descriptions of images in 2009
• Focus on needed textbooks not currently available
  in the needed formats

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Bookshare.org Textbooks from NIMAC Ask and ye
shall receive

• At present, Bookshare.org cannot request books
  from the NIMAC
• SEAs and LEAs need to designate Bookshare.org to
  produce accessible media
• Go to the NIMAC and search http//www.nimac.us
• Then, ask one of your states Authorized Users to
  assign the book to Bookshare.org
• Send us an email letting us know you did so
  (nimac_at_bookshare.org)
• We can serve U.S. K-12 schools and students only
  with NIMAC books we deliver in DAISY and BRF

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School Partnerships

• Scan once, share many, save time
• For non-NIMAS content like trade and reference
  works
• Invest the extra effort into more titles, more
  proofreading
• Colleges and SEAs/LEAs contributing high quality
  scanned books
• Not for publisher-sourced files, we take these
  directly from publishers
• Documentation and training to improve quality

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State Partnerships

• Every state is different!
• Strong goal of serving states the way they want
  help
• AMP Services
• Focusing on collection gaps
• Repository services
• Direct Bookshare.org services to LEAs, schools,
  teachers, students
• Recommended reading lists
• Reference library
• Were flexible and mission driven
• How to ensure access for students with print
  disabilities

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Publisher Partnerships

• Some major publishers are already on board
• Baen, Scholastic, HarperCollins, OReilly
• Recruiting others especially textbook publishers
• Provide Once, Comply Everywhere concept
  (Bookshare.org will supply schools with e-text at
  no cost to publishers)
• Openness to market model discussions at
  post-secondary (all) and K-12 (non-Chafee)
• But, Bookshare.org is Chafee-only

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Assistive Technology Partnerships

• Every vendor who provides text access products
  has or is working on Bookshare.org support
• We fill up those products and devices with text
  with the least effort
• HumanWare Victor Reader included today
• Plus, a commitment to frequent improvements
• Working on additional partnerships for free AT
• Especially software designed for dyslexic users
• Longer-term goals
• The student without a PC can do their reading on
  a locked-down public access terminal
• Support the student who has a 20 MP3 player or
  50 cell phone

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Conclusion

• 35,000 books and expanding critical mass
• Textbooks growing fast
• Help us get more NIMAC books!
• Meets critical social need
• Print disabled people have access they need
• Provides a national opportunity for volunteer
  service
• Primary objective support educational outcomes
• Textbooks
• Recommended reading
• Research and reference

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Find out More

• Bookshare.org
• www.bookshare.org
• Jim Fruchterman
• jim_at_benetech.org
• 650-644-3406
• A project of Benetech
• www.benetech.org
• Silicon Valleys deliberately nonprofit tech
  company