Top FAQs
Qualifying disabilities
Signing up
Passwords
Adding Members/Sponsors
Subscribing to discussion lists
Reading Bookshare content at home
Reading tools
Getting textbooks from Bookshare
Qualifying disabilities
2 Does my disability/my student’s disability qualify?
Qualifying disabilities are disabilities with a physical basis that severely inhibit or prevent an individual from reading standard print. Bookshare cannot determine whether you or your students qualify. A certifying professional must make this assessment and provide Bookshare with confirmation of qualification. Learn more about Qualifications.
[Back to top]Signing up
4 I signed up—when will I receive a welcome email?
You should receive your welcome email shortly after you create your account online. Members under 18 will receive their welcome email once Bookshare has processed their registration form. If your account has been created but you have not received your welcome email, please check your spam folders. If you cannot find the welcome email, please visit the “forgot password” page and enter your email address to generate a new email.
[Back to top]5 How do I provide proof of disability?
Once you have your password, you can log in with your email and password.
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Students of schools with Organizational Memberships: If your school has already submitted your proof of disability to Bookshare as part of its account, your teacher or sponsor at the school can log in and print a special registration form specifically for you that will register you for individual membership without the need for additional proof of disability.
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National Library Service (NLS) patrons: Select My Account, go to the Proof of Disability tab and complete the online Disability Verification Request form.
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Learning Ally (formerly RFB&D) members: Select My Account, go to the Proof of Disability tab and complete the online RFB&D Disability Verification Form.
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CNIB patrons: Patrons with a current CNIB Identification Card can mail or fax a copy of their card to Bookshare.
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All others: Please complete the Proof of Disability form, have it signed by your doctor or a certifying professional and fax or mail it to:
Bookshare
480 South California Avenue, Suite 201
Palo Alto, CA 94306
Fax: 650.475.1066
[Back to top]6 I recently faxed my paperwork. Have you received it?
Please allow two business days for processing memberships. To see if your account has been updated, log in (at the top of any page) and select My Account. If your forms have not yet been processed after two business days, please contact us.
[Back to top]Passwords
8 I forgot my password. How do I get a new one?
To obtain a new password, visit the Forgot Password page and enter your email address. Bookshare will send a new password to you via email.
[Back to top]9 I’m having trouble logging in. What do I do?
Make sure the Email and Password fields are correct.
The Password field may have extraneous data in it from a previous attempt to log in. Before entering your password, press the backspace key repeatedly until you are sure the field is blank. If you are using a screen reader, press left-arrow to determine if the field is blank. If it says asterisk or star, it isn’t blank. When you are sure that the field is blank, carefully type your password.
The Bookshare website can remember your computer and log you in automatically each time you visit. If you are using a screen reader:
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Tab twice to move from the Password field to the Remember Me checkbox.
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Use the spacebar to toggle it as desired.
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Press Shift+Tab to move to the Log In button and press Enter.
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If you receive the message that the password you entered does not match the one stored in Windows, choose “yes” to overwrite the old incorrect password.
If you still can’t log in consistently, consider lowering your Internet Security settings and be sure your browser is set to allow cookies. If you need additional assistance, please contact us.
[Back to top]10 Which password will open my book?
Individual Members: Use your log in password to unzip your books.
Students or clients of an organization: Obtain the download password from the Sponsor who gave you the book.
Organizational Sponsors: Use your download password to unzip books for your students/clients.
Sponsors have two passwords, a “log in” password for logging in to Bookshare and a “download” password for unzipping downloaded books. You set your download password when you download your first book. Each time you download a book for a student/client, the Download Confirmation page displays the password that will unzip that particular book.
You can change your download password, but keep in mind that each book is stamped with your download password. So books you previously downloaded can only be opened with the old password. To change your download password:
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Log in to Bookshare.
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Choose the My Account link.
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Choose the Preferences link.
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Place a checkmark in the Change Download Password checkbox.
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Type in your new download password, tab to the next field and type in your password again to confirm.
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Save your preferences.
Adding Members/Sponsors
12 How do I add Members/Sponsors?
To add Members and Sponsors to your organizational membership, log in and go to My Organization to open your Account Manager screen.
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To add Sponsors: Select the Sponsors link and use the Add a Sponsor button to register a new Sponsor. Sponsors must be staff or faculty of your organization. The new Sponsor will receive a welcome email with a link to set their password.
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To add Members: Select the Members link.
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If there is text above your roster about adding Members, use the link provided to download the Proof of Disability form for organizational memberships.
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If there is no text above your roster, use the buttons below your roster to add Members.
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Subscribing to discussion lists
14 How do I subscribe to the Bookshare discussion lists?
The Bookshare Discussion list is available to anyone who has general questions about Bookshare or books in general. To subscribe, send a blank email with “subscribe” in the subject line to:
bookshare-discuss-request@freelists.org
The Volunteer Discussion list is available to provide support for those who wish to contribute to Bookshare by scanning or proofreading books. To subscribe, send a blank email with “subscribe” in the subject line to:
bksvol-discuss-request@freelists.org
These are very active lists, with dozens of messages each day. You can subscribe to these lists in digest form, which typically means one email a day containing all of the emails sent to the list that day.
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Bookshare Discussion List: Send a message with “set digest” in the subject to:
bookshare-discuss-request@freelists.org -
Bookshare Volunteer Discussion List: Send a message with “set digest” in the subject to:
bksvol-discuss-request@freelists.org
Reading Bookshare content at home
16 How can students read Bookshare content at home?
Complimentary Software
Students are welcome to use Bookshare’s complimentary DAISY readers at home: Victor Reader Soft Bookshare Edition and Read Out:Loud Bookshare Edition. Victor Reader Soft is a good choice for those who are blind or have a visual impairment. Read Out:Loud is ideal for readers with a learning disability. The very natural sounding high quality Acapela synthetic voices work well with both DAISY readers.
To download Bookshare’s DAISY reader software:
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Log into Bookshare.
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Visit the Reading Tools page.
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Choose the appropriate software for your operating system.
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Download and save the software installation files as needed.
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Copy the installation files onto CDs or other removable media and distribute them to your students.
Students cannot download books themselves unless they have their own individual Bookshare membership.
Additional Tools
There are a number of other technologies that also work with Bookshare books. Visit the Reading Tools page for a complete list.
[Back to top]Reading tools
18 How do I install Victor Reader Soft?
Prepare to Install
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If you installed an earlier version of Victor Reader, please uninstall it before proceeding.
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Windows XP: use the Add/Remove Programs option in Control Panel.
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Windows Vista: use the Programs and Features option of Control Panel.
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The new Victor Reader Soft requires Microsoft .Net Framework version 3.0 or later. To get the latest version:
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Go to the Start Menu and use Windows Update, (usually under the All Programs submenu).
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On the Windows Update page, select the Custom button. The update appears in the Windows XP section.
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Select the .NET Framework update and select the Install button.
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Once the update completes, restart your computer.
Install Victor Reader Soft:
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Close all open applications (except your web browser) and temporarily disable antivirus and antispyware software.
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Log into Bookshare and choose the Reading Tools link.
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Download and save the Victor Reader Soft and Acapela installation files to a location on your computer that you can easily find.
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Start the Victor Reader Soft installation and follow the prompts:
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Windows Vista: right-click the VRSoft_Installer_Current.exe installation file and choose Run As Administrator.
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Windows XP: double-click the VRSoft_Installer_Current.exe installation file or select it and press Enter.
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Start the Acapela installation and follow the prompts:
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Windows Vista: right-click the Acapela_current.exe installation file and choose Run As Administrator.
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Windows XP: double-click the Acapela_current.exe installation file or select it and press Enter.
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19 Can I read Bookshare books on a Mac?
READ:OutLoud
READ:OutLoud, Bookshare’s complimentary DAISY reader is an ideal way to read DAISY books on a Mac. You can also choose to install the free Acapela synthetic voices which are quite natural sounding. Both are available to Bookshare Members from the Reading Tools page.
Safari users: before downloading Bookshare software or books, choose Preferences and on the General Tab, uncheck “open safe files after download.”
TheUnarchiver
The Bookshare book files and the READ:OutLoud installation files are archived with a password, so you will need a utility to unzip them. We recommend TheUnarchiver.
When you install TheUnarchiver, you will be asked to choose which archive formats to process. Unless you have a reason not to, choose the “Select all archives” option.
Alternative Options for Macs
The following instructions are for those who have alternative ways to read our DAISY books and prefer not to use Read OutLoud.
When you download Bookshare books, save them to your computer in a location where you can easily find them again. Once you install TheUnarchiver utility, unzipping Bookshare books is seamless and straightforward on Macintosh computers running OS X.
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Locate the book you downloaded and open it. TheUnarchiver will start automatically.
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Enter the Bookshare password you used at the time you downloaded the book. Use your current password unless you have changed it since downloading the book.
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The files will be unzipped to the current folder. If the book is in DAISY Text format, there will be at least eight files in the zip archive. Expect to see the following file types: .NCX, .OPF, .SMIL, and .XML. These four file types, plus other support files, comprise the DAISY book.
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Open the book:
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Safari or FireFox: open the .XML file.
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OpenBook, READ:OutLoud: open the .OPF file.
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Kurzweil (Mac version): rename the .XML file with an .HTML file extension and open it.
20 How do I transfer Bookshare content onto the Victor Reader Stream?
Stream Companion
HumanWare’s Stream Companion provides an intuitive screen reader-friendly user interface that makes it easy to transfer Bookshare books to the Victor Reader Stream. It’s available for download at:
http://www.humanware.com/en-canada/support/vr_stream_software
Alternative for Transferring Books to Victor Reader Stream
The following instructions are for those who prefer not to use the Stream Companion software.
To transfer Bookshare content onto the Victor Reader Stream, the SD card must be available to the computer as a removable drive. You can either:
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Remove the SD card from the device and insert it into an SD reader on your computer.
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Or keep the SD card in the device and connect the device to your computer with the supplied USB cable.
Once the contents of the SD card are visible in a folder window, you can proceed with the transfer. Essentially you just copy files from one folder window and paste them into another folder window.
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Make sure the SD card is formatted properly. The advantage of formatting the SD card on the Stream is that it creates the required folders for you. To format the SD card, repeatedly press 7, (the menu key), until the Stream announces "format SD card". Press the pound key to confirm. If the format feature is not available on your Victor Reader Stream, you may want to consider updating it to the latest version.
When properly formatted, the SD card will contain several folders each beginning with "$vr". The two folders that relate to Bookshare content are $vrdtb and $vrtext. The Stream is compatible with Bookshare’s DAISY, BRF, and XML formats.
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Save your DAISY content in the $vrdtb folder. Each DAISY book, magazine, or newspaper should be saved in its own subfolder under the $vrdtb folder. Every DAISY book, newspaper or periodical, is comprised of at least eight files. The subfolders must contain all these files. Each of these subfolders appears as a separate book on the Digital Talking Book bookshelf.
Unzip Your Books
With Windows XP and Vista, you can unzip Bookshare books using the built-in Compressed Folder utility:
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Download and save the Bookshare book to a folder on your hard drive that you can easily find.
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Locate the saved Bookshare book Zip file and press Enter or double-click to open the file and start the Compressed Folder Wizard.
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Mouse users: click the Extract All button on the tool bar.
Keyboard users:-
Press Alt, then down arrow, then Enter.
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Press Enter again to open the "select a folder to extract files to" dialog box.
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Make sure the “Show extracted files when complete” checkbox is unchecked.
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Press Enter to save the book in a subfolder in the current location.
Or press the Browse button to choose a new location. -
Enter your password when prompted.
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Press Enter again to finish extracting the files. All the files are in a folder with a name formed from the book’s title with your name in parentheses.
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Select this folder and copy it to the Windows clipboard with Control+C.
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Open the $VRDTB folder, then press Control+V to paste the book folder.
The Victor Reader Stream can also read Bookshare’s BRF and XML files. Both of these stand-alone file types must be copied to the $VRTEXT folder. You can create a subfolder for each book, but it’s not required.
[Back to top]21 What stand-alone portable DAISY players are available?
There are a number of stand-alone portable DAISY players that can read Bookshare content. For the latest list, visit the Reading Tools page.
[Back to top]22 How can I convert Bookshare books to MP3 audio?
Although it is possible to convert Bookshare’s text-based DAISY books to MP3 audio, doing so eliminates some important DAISY features including:
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See the text while hearing it.
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Navigate easily by page, chapter, section, etc.
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Spell words and control punctuation.
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Change the rate of speech.
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Search for text.
Nevertheless, there are many applications that can convert DAISY text to audio for use on MP3 players, including the PC versions of Kurzweil 3000, Kurzweil 1000, OpenBook and TextAloud.
Note: To create MP3 files with TextAloud, you must first rename the .XML file (which contains the contents of the book) with an .HTML file extension:
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Unzip the book.
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Right-click the .XML file and choose Rename from the pop-up menu.
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Change the .XML extension to .HTML.
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Answer Yes when prompted with the warning.
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If your PC doesn’t show file extensions, turn off “hide file extensions for known file types” in Folder Options.
TextAloud does not need the .NCX, .OPF, or the .SMIL file(s). However, it does need the remaining support files.
23 How can I convert Bookshare books to text?
To comply with copyright law, Bookshare books must be provided in a specialized format (DAISY and BRF). This requirement protects copyrighted material from illegal copying and distribution.
If you use a device that requires books to be in ASCII text format, you can convert either the Grade 2 Contracted Braille files (BRF format) or the DAISY files into plain text.
However, before making this conversion, remember that under the terms of your Membership Agreement with Bookshare, you may under no circumstances share the books you download from Bookshare with another person. While changing the format for your own use is allowed, Bookshare’s fingerprinting and watermarking technology (used to identify the source of a digital book) remain in place even if a file is converted to plain text.
Note: all freely distributable titles (e.g. public domain or Creative Commons licensed) are not governed by the same copyright law and are available for download in both plain text and HTML.
Option 1: Save As Text
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Unzip the book archive and open the .XML file.
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Select all the text in the file. To do this quickly from the keyboard, use Control+A.
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Copy the selected text to the Windows clipboard (Control+C).
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Open a text editor or word processor and paste the text (Control+V).
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Save the file with .TXT extension.
Option 2: Open the .XML file in your web browser
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Unzip the book archive
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Right-click the .XML file and choose Rename from the pop-up menu.
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Change the .XML file extension to .HTML.
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Answer Yes when prompted with the warning.
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If your PC doesn’t show file extensions, turn off “hide file extensions for known file types” in Folder Options.
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Open the newly renamed .HTML file in your web browser.
Getting textbooks from Bookshare
25 I need a textbook in an accessible format. Can Bookshare provide it?
Yes! Please read below for K-12 or postsecondary textbooks, and about requesting a book.
1. If it is a K-12 textbook, please follow these steps:
Search Bookshare for the textbook you need, using various criteria (Bookshare may have a textbook that has the same name but a different ISBN as the one you seek).
If the textbook is available for download and you are an educator from a U.S. school with qualified students on your account, but do not have the ability to download it, please go to http://bookshare.org/contactUs. Select "Membership and Registration." The membership team will look into your questions and adjust your account settings as appropriate.
If the textbook shows “Request from NIMAC,” please select this link and you will be given instructions on how to proceed.
If the textbook is not listed in Bookshare, we also recommend that you search the NIMAC. To do this, go to www.nimac.us and select “Enter NIMAC Repository,” then select “Search the NIMAC” from the menu on the left side of the screen.
NIMAC-sourced textbooks are available only to U.S. K-12 schools for students who are Chafee-qualified and have an Individualized Education Plan (IEP).
If the K-12 textbook you seek does not appear in the NIMAC, you can check with your school purchasing agent to see if the purchase contract for the book included a request for a NIMAS fileset. Also, the purchasing agent may be able to help you get a digital file from the publisher.
You can also request the book using our Contact Us form as described below.
Another alternative would be to send us a physical copy of the book. Then we would remove the spine of the book and scan it. The conversion process takes two to three months. If you would like to send us a textbook, please let us know to expect the book.
Please note that due to the complexity of the images, we cannot accommodate requests to scan math or science books at this time.
For more information, refer to the Quick Guide to Requesting a NIMAC Textbook through Bookshare as well as the online Learning Guide entitled “How Do I Get Textbooks?”
2. If it is a post-secondary textbook:
Search Bookshare for the textbook you need, using various criteria (Bookshare may have a textbook that has the same name but a different ISBN as the one you seek).
If the textbook you seek is not in Bookshare, your school's disability support services office may be able to help you get a digital file from the publisher.
You can also request the book using our Contact Us form as described below.
Another alternative would be to send us a physical copy of the book. Then we would remove the spine of the book and scan it. The conversion process takes two to three months. If you would like to send us a textbook, please let us know to expect the book. Please note that due to the complexity of the images, we cannot accommodate requests to scan math or science books at this time.
3. To request a school book, send a request to Bookshare’s Collection Development Team. Please be sure to include the following information if you can:
Book Title
Author
ISBN
The reason you need the book
The grade you are currently teaching or attending in school or college.
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