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Sometimes the scanner will translate dust or stains on the book pages to strings of gibberish at the beginnings or ends of page. These should be deleted.Here's an example:*CultureCulture is the way a group of people lives. For example, having a Thanksgiving dinner is... more
TITLE: 20 point and boldSECTIONS, BOOKS or PARTS: 18 point and boldCHAPTERS: 16 point and boldSUBCHAPTERS or SUBSECTIONS: 14 point and boldBODY TEXT: 12 point (not bold)
When scanning, make sure to retain page breaks. This is a scanner setting. Do NOT retain line breaks.When proofreading, make sure that the page breaks are hard page breaks, which appear either as a dotted or solid blue line with the words "Page Break" in the middle of... more
When volunteerinng as a scanner, make sure to scan the title page. When proofreading, make sure the title page is present. If the book has no title page, the book must be rejected.Here's an example of info you might find on a title page:*Dear Mrs. LaRueLetters from... more
No! Please remove all images before you submit your scanned book. You may include image descriptions. They must be written in complete sentences and placed in square brackets. Check out the instructions here.Proofreaders should also make sure they've deleted out all... more
Get Help from the Experts -- Our Volunteers!Join the Bookshare Volunteer Discussion List to connect by email with other Bookshare volunteers. Ask questions and share suggestions related to book scanning, proofreading, and accessibility.Subscribe: Send a blank email... more
Proofreaders have two weeks to proofread their book. At the end of two weeks you will receive an email stating that you have had the book for 2 weeks and you must either check the book in if you're finished proofing it, or renew it for more time to finish proofing it.... more
OCR is short for "Optical Character Recognition" and it is a type of software that we require scanners to use. It turns a picture of text into computer-readable text so that our books may be read in different formats.
Yes! When you submit your newly scanned version, make sure to put the letters "BSO" in all capitals before the title of the book so that proofreaders know that you're improving an existing copy.Check out this page for more information about BSOs.
If you're having trouble uploading a scanned RTF (Rich Text Format) file, try skipping the step where you input the ISBN the first time. This does mean that you'll have to put in a bit more information manually, but it hopefully will solve the uploading problem. Do... more
You may scan any book you choose, so long as it follows the guidelines on this page. The book should not be in the collection * and must be a physical book that is manually scanned.* See exceptions here.
Yes. Bookshare volunteers must use their own scanner and OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software. The scanner may have built-in OCR software, or the person scanning may have the OCR software as part of a computer program.
Bookshare cannot accept:eBooks (even if they have been printed and scanned)standardized teststeacher editions of textbookscopyrighted dramatic works (plays or screenplays)
YES, USE ASTERISKS!To show a break in the text, such as a doodad or a bullet point or large blank space. Replace whatever was there with an asterisk. Keep in mind that not every blank lines shows a break in the text. This will be an extra large blank space or symbol,... more
FOOTNOTES are located at the bottom of a page, with a corresponding indicator like an asterisk, dagger, or number present in the text.Separate the text of the page from that of the footnotes on the bottom by adding a line with three asterisks on it after the text and... more