My wife and I have bween Bookshare volunteers for over 15 years and have put up hundreds of books.
From: viphone@googlegroups.com [mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Richard Turner Sent: Friday, November 11, 2016 8:53 PM To: viphone@googlegroups.com Subject: RE: Bookshare Funding First, I’ve copied info from an entry in Wikipedia, which is a nice summary: Bookshare is the world's largest online library of accessible ebooks for people with print disabilities . Through its extensive collection of educational and popular titles, specialized book formats, and reading tools, Bookshare offers individuals who cannot read standard print materials the same ease of access that people without disabilities enjoy. In 2007 and 2012, Bookshare received two five-year awards from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), to provide free access for all U.S. students with a qualifying print disability. Bookshare has more than 460,000 members and over 460,000 books in its collection. Benetech partners with over 820 publishers to add existing books and new releases to the Bookshare digital library. Benetech also partners with libraries such as New York Public Library to bring accessible content to individuals with qualified disabilities. Bookshare is an initiative of Benetech, a Palo Alto, CA-based nonprofit that develops and uses technology to create positive social change. Now, here is a link to the Benetech story from their web site. http://www.benetech.org/about-us/the-benetech-story/ The funding from the Department of Education allows Bookshare to provide any student, including those in Rehabilitation training centers, to receive a free account for each year they are enrolled. I can’t imagine a world without that resource. Accessing books is so easy now thanks to them compare to when I was in school in the late 6’s and 70’s, then in graduate school in the early 90’s. I can’t remember the last time I wanted to read a book and didn’t find it in a format I could access and most of those have been through Bookshare. Richard From: viphone@googlegroups.com <mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com> [mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Todd Patkus Sent: Friday, November 11, 2016 6:25 PM To: viphone@googlegroups.com <mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com> Subject: RE: Bookshare Funding Richard, Who founded Bookshare? Who owns Bookshare? Todd From: viphone@googlegroups.com <mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com> [mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Richard Turner Sent: Friday, November 11, 2016 8:06 PM To: 'ViPone list' <viphone@googlegroups.com <mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com> > Subject: Bookshare Funding Greetings, I ran across this on another list. Please, if you live in the United States, contact your Senators and Representatives. The below comes from the Dyslexic Advantage web site. We Need to Save Bookshare! The issue: The House of Representatives proposed eliminating funding for Bookshare in the FY2017 Labor-H appropriations bill passed in July. The Technology and Media budget line that includes Bookshare and other national special education programs was drastically cut from $30 million to $16 million. The background: Senate bill passed at $30 million; level funding from FY2016. Both the House and Senate bills include language acknowledging Bookshare’s great work. What happened? The House funded only continuation awards. However, Bookshare’s funding must be renewed in the coming fiscal year. As a result, the House proposal effectively places Bookshare on the chopping block. This is a major threat to one of the nation’s most effective and efficient special educational programs. We need the House to restore this cut so that Bookshare can continue to serve children with disabilities and ensure that children in the most underserved communities have access. What is Bookshare, and why is it so important? Benetech’s Bookshare project provides free access to an online library of accessible texts for all U.S. students with a qualified print disability such as a vision impairment or dyslexia. Bookshare currently has 400,000+ members and nearly 450,000+ titles—members have downloaded over 10 million books. Under IDEA, schools are required to provide students with these disabilities accessible versions of the books they need for school: braille, large print, and audio versions of their books. National programs like Bookshare take up less than 5% of the formula grant funding that goes to states and local school districts. Paying for these services in each local district, would cost them far more. Bookshare is more than 15 times less expensive per book delivered than the prior national program operator: that means we solve the majority of the problem with much less money than was spent annually more than a decade ago. Without Bookshare, school districts, parents and students will have to revert back to scanning their own books—a costly process that impedes students from accessing books they need. “Words cannot begin to describe the difference that Bookshare has made in our son’s life. Now, we cannot pull him away from it as he spends every spare moment reading one to two books per week! The constant reading has dramatically improved his writing and vocabulary which in turn has increased his grades significantly to all A's and B's. He now has an inspired desire to learn.” Bookshare Parent Our Ask to Your Office Restore Technology and Media FY17 budget line to $30M; level funding from FY2016! from: www.dyslexicadvantage.org <http://www.dyslexicadvantage.org> -- The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. 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