Thank you, U.S. Department of Education!

If you are eligible for alternate format text, I’ve got some very exciting news for you! The U.S. Department of Education has granted Bookshare.org a rather generous amount - $32 million, to be exact. Why is this important for you? Well, this grant allows all United States colleges and universities a free membership to Bookshare.org… and any student with a print disability now has access to free memberships through their college or university.

This means you can look for your own accessible format books, download them, and use them… all independently. Matter of fact, Bookshare even includes a free reader (Victor Reader Soft, which we have in several locations on campus) You never have to return these, and DSS’s only involvement is a once-a-year certification.
Ok, you know I have to say it… there’s advantages and there’s disadvantages to this little deal.

Advantages

• FREE BOOKS! As an obsessive reader myself with way more books than any human being should ever have to move from house to house…. I think this is huge. No membership cost, no software cost, no book cost… wow.
• Accessible books with great navigation tools. Bookshare.org’s books are in DAISY format, which works really well for people with visual impairments, learning disabilities, and mobility impairments. Find a specific page, find a specific phrase, read from front to back, jump around, bookmark, change the reading speed… anything.
• Hey, Braille readers - Bookshare.org has Braille-ready files (.brf)!
• Access to find books anywhere, anytime. No requests to DSS, no waiting period. Find it, download it, read it. That’s it.
• Newspapers and periodicals, too!
• Books for school, books for fun - all available to you. 35,000 of them and growing every day.
• Oh, and did I mention FREE BOOKS? And that you don’t have to purchase the book in order to download the accessible version? I think that means FREE BOOKS.

Disadvantages (relax, there’s not many of them)

• If you aren’t familiar with Victor Reader Soft, you will need to learn it. Not a huge deal, but there nonetheless.
• The biggest disadvantage is that Bookshare.org doesn’t have a huge textbook collection, so this won’t supply all of your textbooks. (Sorry, you’re still stuck with me. This at least gives you an option, though.)