[nabs-l] bard web site

Wed Oct 2 16:14:01 UTC 2013

Steve,
Thanks. Its our free library. Lets keep it that way. Its been a part of my 
life just as much as peanut butter has.
Besides the shutdown an inconvenience compaired to the impact on our 
economy.

It will reopen in the next month and we will have it again.

I agree there are other sources of books and I think we should pay for books 
in accessible format when we can just as sighted people do.
But non disabled people have a free library and we should have this option 
too.
Ashley

-----Original Message----- 
From: Steve Jacobson
Sent: Wednesday, October 02, 2013 11:59 AM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] bard web site

Peter,

I agree with you in part and I disagree in part.  All of this talk about 
BARD as a result of the government shutdown seems very
much overblown to me.  Anyone who has been listening to the news should have 
downloaded a few extra books. My inability to
download a BARD book seems pretty minor compared to the numerous 
hard-working government employees who are suddenly left without
an income, people who need to apply for a service who can't, and people who 
have made plans that might include visiting government
operated facilities who suddenly find them closed.  I would assume that we 
probably have blind vendors impacted as well, and
unlike what will likely be the case for federal employees, the revenue lost 
by blind vendors, and other commercial operations
thhat depend upon the traffic of federal employees, will not be regained 
when the shutdown ends.

Having said that, times are changing.  We do need to consider that there are 
other sources for books besides NLS.  If we are
lucky, we will need to get used to being able to pay for a book to get it 
right away as a commonplace in our lives.  Still, NLS
does still serve as our public library, and the concept of a population 
having free access to literature from public libraries
goes all the way back to Ben Franklin and is not a new concept.  Therefore, 
I don't think we should be feeling guilty for using
BARD, but there are really more important impacts of the government 
shutdown.

Best regards,

Steve Jacobson

On Wed, 2 Oct 2013 09:40:47 -0500, Peter Donahue wrote:

>Good morning everyone,

>    What you mean is that there would not be a Braille and talking book Web
>site still available despite the government shutdown. The folks that really
>shut BARD down is none other than us. Society didn't tell us to be overly
>dependent on the government to provide this and other services. Folks we're
>doing that to ourselves and need to stop being overly dependent on others 
>to
>fund and operate these programs for us. Thank God for the likes of Jim
>Fructerman, Ray Kurzweil, and others. This should be an opportunity  for us
>to rediscover what Bookshare.org and Blio have to offer. It should also
>cause us to put our thinking caps on and find ways to protect BARD and 
>other
>services we've come to depend on from government shutdowns. A yearly
>subscription to Bookshare.org is only $50.00. Forgo some of the booz and 
>the
>smokes and subscribe so the books can keep coming to you. These
>subscriptions are far superior to BARD. We have found lots of books on
>Bookshare.org not available through BARD. It's $50.00 well-spent if you
>asked us. Since we're both Bookshare.org members the yearly charge is
>$100.00 and we find the money to keep our subscriptions active. Furthermore
>I believe Bookshare.org still has the free student membership. Check it 
>out.

>    If we keep going down the path of stinking thinking the next time
>there's another federal shutdown we'll have no one but ourselves to blame
>because we failed to protect BARD and other services we rely on from such
>mayhem.

>Peter Donahue

>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "I. C. Bray" <i.c.bray at win.net>
>To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"
><nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>Sent: Tuesday, October 01, 2013 9:09 PM
>Subject: Re: [nabs-l] bard web site

>You would not have a braille / audio book collection if not for the federal
>government.

>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "Peter Donahue" <pdonahue2 at satx.rr.com>
>To: <jsoro620 at gmail.com>; "National Association of Blind Students mailing
>list" <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>Sent: Tuesday, October 01, 2013 9:48 PM
>Subject: Re: [nabs-l] bard web site

>: Good evening,
>:
>:    Paying a subscription to protect our accessible book collections from
>: governmental boondoggling is okay in my book. Bring it on!
>:
>: Peter Donahue
>:
>: ----- Original Message ----- 
>: From: "Joe" <jsoro620 at gmail.com>
>: To: "'National Association of Blind Students mailing list'"
>: <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>: Sent: Tuesday, October 01, 2013 7:16 PM
>: Subject: Re: [nabs-l] bard web site
>:
>:
>: I'm all for making government much smaller, but privatizing the NLS arm 
>of
>: the LOC is probably not the best case scenario. People would have to pay,
>: not an issue for gainfully employed people but certainly a problem for 
>the
>: 70% unemployed folks already on a low income. Me, I'm really not sure why
>: the BARD site is down. Skeleton crews consist of at least a few IT staff,
>: and it seems odd there is not a single person who can keep an eye on the
>: servers. Then again, the government is dumb enough to try to rope off
>: national monuments here in DC that can easily be accessed outside. Red,
>: blue, they're all a little cray cray.
>:
>: Joe
>:
>: -----Original Message-----
>: From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Peter 
>Donahue
>: Sent: Tuesday, October 01, 2013 7:29 PM
>: To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
>: Subject: Re: [nabs-l] bard web site
>:
>: Good evening everyone,
>:
>:    Perhaps it's time to privatize the NLS making it immune to government
>: shutdowns in the future. Bookshare.org and BLIO are our shining stars
>during
>: this time so we need not be without books to read.
>:
>: Peter Donahue
>:
>:
>: ----- Original Message -----
>: From: "Kirt" <kirt.crazydude at gmail.com>
>: To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"
>: <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>: Sent: Tuesday, October 01, 2013 5:48 PM
>: Subject: Re: [nabs-l] bard web site
>:
>:
>: That entirely depends on when Congress decides to get it's act together.
>Ask
>:
>: your representative. :-)
>:
>: Sent from my iPhone
>:
>: > On Oct 1, 2013, at 4:45 PM, "justin williams"
><justin.williams2 at gmail.com>
>:
>: > wrote:
>: >
>: > Do we know when the bard site will be up again?
>: >
>: > _______________________________________________
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>: om
>:
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