Friday, April 16, 2010

New Bookshare Module!! "Books without Barriers" for Print Disabilities


Bookshare® is an online library of digital books for people with print disabilities. It operates under an exception to U.S. copyright law which allows copyrighted digital books to be made available to people with qualifying disabilities (this service is free to all U.S. students with disabilities). In addition, many publishers and authors have volunteered to provide Bookshare with access to their works. By requiring individuals to register as Members and provide a Proof of Disability, Bookshare ensures that only qualified individuals use the service. Bookshare is free to all!!


Who Bookshare Serves?

*People with Visual Impairments
*People with Physical Disabilities
*People with Learning Disabilities
*For readers of all ages

The book is then made available to Bookshare Members for download in two accessible digital formats from the website:

*DAISY (Digital Accessible Information System)-a talking-book file format. DAISY books from Bookshare are DAISY 3 text files that work with screen readers, self-voicing synthetic-voice DAISY players, portable self-voicing DAISY players, and scan-and-read software such as Kurzweil K1000 and K3000, WYNN, and OpenBook.

*BRF (Braille Refreshable Format)-digital Braille for use with Braille embossers and refreshable Braille devices.

Bookshare adds hundreds of books every month!! To check out Bookshare visit www.bookshare.org or click on the title above.

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