Can I have a demo or test account to use for training purposes?
Due to the constraints of copyright law, we cannot provide access to copyrighted books for training purposes. However, Bookshare contains more than 10,000 freely available titles (e.g. public domain or Creative Commons licensed) that anyone can access, and these can be used to demonstrate to non-members how Bookshare works.
Below are instructions for accessing the freely available titles as an Individual Member would.
If you want to demonstrate how a Bookshare organizational account works, including how facilitators (which we call "Sponsors") can add members to the account and assign books to them, and how those members will log in and access and read their books, then please complete this Demo Account Request Form, and you will be sent instructions for accessing the Organizational Demonstration Account.
Here are three lists containing hundreds of freely available titles that anyone can access:
- Free Books for All - fiction and non-fiction titles of varying grade levels
- Free Children's Books for All - books for second graders and younger
- Free Upskilling Books for All - how-to books for those who wish to learn a new skill, prepare to go back to school, or switch careers
Here is how to read a freely available title:
- Select "Read Now" next to the title of the book (if available) to open the book in Bookshare Reader for Web, a customizable browser-based tool for quick and easy reading
- Download the book in your preferred format, depending on the reading tool you will use