Hi,
This is Alison from Bookshare.org.  Glad to see all the disucssion on this
list about what we hope will serve as a great new resource for accessible
digital text.

Bookshare.org membership is available to people with all types of print
disabilites, including those who are blind, low vision, have reading
disabilities, or mobility impairments that interfere with holding or opening
a print book.  Essentially, if somebody is a U.S. resident and qualifies for
RFB&D he or she is eligible.  For now it is limited to U.S. residents
because we are operating under the U.S. copyright law.  It may be that we
can expand to provide service of some type in other countries some day, but
we need first to work out the legal basis for that (and are in discussions
with several countries around these legal questions).

It is a subscription-based service, so with payment of an annual
subscription ($25 one-time sign up, $50 subscription), individual have full
access to the collection, now numbering over 8100 books, and continuing to
grow every day as more people submit books online.

The collection grows as people submit books, whether those people are
individual members, volunteers, or organizations such as schools.  Each book
that is submitted will hopefully save many other people from having to scan
the same book again!

I'm happy to answer any further questions either on or off list.

Regards,
Alison Lingane


________________________

Alison Lingane
Senior Product Manager, Bookshare.org
www.bookshare.org

A Project of The Benetech Initiative - Technology Serving Humanity

Note new address and phone numbers
480 S. California Ave, Suite 201
Palo Alto, CA 94306-1609   USA
(650) 475-5440 x122
(650) 475-1066 (fax)
[log in to unmask]
www.benetech.org



-----Original Message-----
From: Denis Anson [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, March 26, 2002 11:00 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: An Online Library for the Blind


Just out of curiosity, why are they not open to all print disabled
persons?

Denis Anson, MS, OTR
Computer Access Specialist
College Misericordia
301 Lake St.
Dallas, PA 18612
email: [log in to unmask]
Phone: 570-674-6413


> -----Original Message-----
> From: * EASI: Equal Access to Software & Information
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ann Parsons
> Sent: Tuesday, March 26, 2002 11:03 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: An Online Library for the Blind
>
> Hi all,
>
> What they've done is certify that the site will be used by only those
> who are blind, and who are certified as being such.  You might do
> worse than to go to the web site and check them out.  They're at:
>
> www.bookshare.org
>
> Ann P.
>
> --
>                         Ann K. Parsons
> email:  [log in to unmask]                   ICQ Number:  33006854
> WEB SITE:  http://home.eznet.net/~akp
> "All that is gold does not glitter.  Not all those who wander are
lost."
> JRRT