Jessy Haugh

Where educators can post tips and share resources and ideas during closures!

We are eager to do all that we can to support educators, students, and families at this crucial time. Under current U.S. Copyright Law, Bookshare membership is only available to people who are certified by competent authorities as having qualifying reading barriers, such as blindness or low vision, learning disabilities, or physical disabilities that make it difficult or impossible to read standard print. We encourage you to sign up all students who meet these criteria.In these extraordinary times, we are in conversations with legal and educational authorities to explore any possible options for increasing access to the Bookshare library. We have created a resource page that includes e-learning resources available from publishers and other vendors that can benefit a broader population. We will update this information as we learn more. The Bookshare library does include nearly 10,000 "Freely Available” books that can be downloaded by anyone, without restriction. Check out the full list of Freely Available titles as well as these tips to refine the list by criteria such as copyright date, topic, and grade level.

As there is a lot that would go into determining this I would highly recommend contacting our technical support team so they can better assist you at 650-352-0198 option #2.

When you are in the reading list you created there should be a few columns listed as title, author, date added, action, activity, and another action column. The last column labeled action should have the word remove. If you click on remove it will remove the title from your list. Please note that if you are in the "My History" section then remove will not be listed. If you are still unable to find the remove section please contact our technical team so they can walk you through a fix for this.

As this could be related to a few different issues I would recommend calling our technical support team so they can get this fixed for you quickly. The best number to contact them would be 650-352-0198 option #2.

We've implemented a book quality reporting system, which you can use to report these types of issues directly to our Collection Development team. To file a book quality report: 1. Log in to your Bookshare account at: https://www.bookshare.org/ 2. Locate the book. 3. Select the Book's Title. 4. Select the Report Book Quality Issue link. If you choose the option to be notified, you will receive an email from the Collection Development Department when an update is available.

First I would try the fix below. The other issue is if you are having different member use the same Chromebook the settings could be reverting because of this. Unfortunately our Web reader is very basic in its design and what it can do. Unfortunately we are currently experiencing a bug with our Web Reader extension on Google Chromebooks that is making our books read with an accent Text to Speech voice. We have determined that the bug is an issue with the Chromebook’s operating system itself. To resolve this issue: 1. Go to the Chrome Web Store and install "Chrome OS US English Female HQ." https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chrome-os-us-english-fema/efdojdlmjknacnljjdedapanceanigkh 2. Close all Chrome windows, "Sign out" from the Chromebook, and sign back in. The second step makes the Chromebook "forget" about the other voices and only use the US English Female web store voice, which works with word highlighting. The Web Reader is also fully functional on all Windows PCs and Macs.

Unfortunately with the way it currently sits they would not get any notification about the book. Though I can tell you that this has been something our engineering team has been working on, and we hope to see a release of this feature very shortly. Not only that students/members will also be able to request books be added as well with this update.

Currently there really is no difference. With the reading lists they must be built then members, and books must be added. The assign books feature allows members to have access to titles faster, and allows sponsors the ability to not create individualized lists for members.

Hi I am very sorry for the late reply to this. We have our newly developed Learning Center. The link below will take you directly to it. Once here click on Educators Getting Started. This will give you a complete walk through of how to use the account. https://www.bookshare.org/cms/help-center/learning-center

I am very sorry about the late reply to this question. As stated by Mike this feature should be rolling out fairly shortly our team is just working out the last few bugs!!

Hi Kyle I am very sorry for the late reply. Currently we do not put restrictions on who can be added to your account. We leave that up to the Primary Contact who would control the account. I generally recommend only adding sponsors who are directly involved with your org/school.

On rare occasions publishers and authors may update certain parts of books and then send a new copy of that book to Bookshare in which both copies would be active on our website. They could also be different editions, or even books that are available in other areas of the world. It really depends on a few things. We are currently working on updating our library so this should happen less and less.

Unfortunately the accounts must be under the member as they are accessing books that are copy written, and must be accessed by a member with a verified print disability. Members can sign up for an individual membership without the org/school being involved. They can also join an org account but would be limited to only accessing books assigned to them by sponsors on the org.

Hi if the member already has an account we do have a way for you to link it to your org so the member does not have to have multiple log ins. To link your student's account to your organization's account you will need the permission of the student or their parental guardian and the email address they used to create their individual account. If your student already has an individual account for Bookshare please do the following: 1. Log in to your Bookshare account 2. Select the "My Bookshare" link located on the top right of your screen 3. Select the "Members" link from the left side menu 4. Check the box next to the student's first name (if they're not listed you'll need to select the "Add Member" button first) 5. Select the "More Actions" drop down menu and select "Add Individual Membership" 6. Using option 2 enter the email address of the existing account. 7. Check the box to confirm you have permission to link these accounts 9. Select the "Submit" button Please allow up to 48 business hours for this link to be processed by our membership team. Once Bookshare staff have approved your request, the two accounts will be linked and you will be able to download books for your student and utilize Reading Lists with them.

Currently we do not have an easy way for sponsors to access titles as they are copy written works. I recommend adding a Test member to your account that other sponsors can access as well for training.

Hi Lisa! Michelle is correct this would be the correct way to remove titles from the assigned books area.

I have sent this suggestion over to our team. Currently the WebReader is fairly basic in its design. If members have access to mobile devices they can access apps that work with Bookshare like Dolphin EasyReader. These apps have many more features that are not currently build into the WebReader.

When submitting Proof of Disability for Bookshare we highly recommend completing our Proof of Disability form. We also accept signed certificates of blindness or a doctor's note written on their letterhead granted that it contains the following information: 1. Member's name and date of birth 2. Qualifying print disability clearly stated (LD, PD, or VI) 3. Doctor's name, title, and signature If the Proof of Disability you intend to submit does not contain the above information, you will need to have a Competent Authority complete our Proof of Disability form. To access the Proof of Disability form: 1. Log in to your Bookshare account. 2. Select the "My Account" link. 3. Select the "Proof of Disability" link. 4. Select the "Proof of Disability Form" link to download the form.

Hi Katie, as this could be related to a few things please contact our technical support team so they can walk you through some fixes.

It sounds like the book itself is stuck in a processing state. Essentially it keeps trying to download instead of just failing. Please contact our tech team at 650-352-0198 option #2. They will just need to know which book and some account information and then they can fix this issue for you very quickly.

We would be happy to work with you! Please contact our membership team at 650-352-0198 option #1. They will be able to walk you through the few options that we offer.

Hi Patricia, Read2Go has been out of development for some time now, which means it is no longer receiving updates. Although it still works okay for some members who wish to keep using it, it is possible with every update to iOS, will bring more potential glitches to the app. If you find this happening more often than not, we recommend switching to another app such as Voice Dream Reader or Dolphin's EasyReader (recommended). These are third-party apps, which integrate with Bookshare, and are regularly updated.

As this could be related to a few things I would recommend contacting our technical support team so we can better assist you. If you are using a mobile device like a smartphone or tablet this could be the cause for the issue. We recommend using an app that works with Bookshare on mobile device for the best reading experience.

First, I would recommend clearing the cache on the browser of the Chromebook the teacher was using. Once that is done if they run into any issues please have them contact our technical support team so we can better assist them.