Search Help Center
No! If you have checked out a book and no longer want to proofread it (because the subject matter doesn't interest you, because it's not what you expected, or for whatever reason), feel free to release it back to the Checkout Queue for someone else to proofread. To... more
Yes! Bookshare is a project of Benetech, which is a nonprofit organization. We are able to provide letters and sign paperwork confirming community service as needed, provided you follow our procedures.We can provide proof of your volunteer hours if you do the following... more
You may proofread any book in the Checkout Queue unless it has the words "HOLD FOR [someone's name]" before the book's title. These books are on "hold" for a particular proofreader. The scanner and proofreader have agreed beforehand to work together or the book has... 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
Once you have proofread your book, you must check it in for approval. A staff member or qualified volunteer will review it and either approve it or return it for more editing with notes about what to fix. Your book will typically reviewed within 7 business days of... more
It depends. Proofreaders may choose any book to proofread, just like scanners may choose any book to scan. The time in which your book will be proofread will depend on how well the book is scanned, how long or complicated the book is, and whether or not a proofreader... 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.
For quality control, we ask that different people scan and proofread each book. Occasionally we will make an exception for a highly-skilled, experienced volunteer. If you would like to be considered for this exception, please Request Help.
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.
When I request a book to be added, when will it be ready?Converting books into accessible format is a complex process, and we can't guarantee a specific turnaround time. For books that are available in the NIMAC, we can usually add them to the collection within 1-2... more
Student book requestsIf your request is on behalf of a U.S. student, it gets added to the Student Request queue, which is maintained by Bookshare’s Collection Development staff. If the book is available from the NIMAC, we'll pull a copy directly or as assigned to us... more
It's easy to volunteer for Bookshare!Scanning: You can make virtually any book accessible if you are willing to scan the file and submit it to Bookshare. If you have a computer with internet access, a scanner with scan-to-text software, basic computer skills, and a... more