[NABS-L] Scanning My Own Books

[Amelia Anne Dickerson]

Absolutely yes to Bookshare and library resources, although I find fewer of the latter are digital. Since the late 90's, I've scanned a lot of books on a flat bed scanner with Open Book, a tedious process, but good chance to catch up on podcasts or work on learning vocabulary. I find the most important factor in getting a good outcome is having a good copy to start with. If you are in school, there is absolutely no excuse for instructors who hand out a marked up, messy, difficult-to-read copy of an article or whatever. If they put in half an effort, they can find a clean, well-copied version of it. Then the question is why they aren't giving it to you as an accessible PDF to start... I've looked at options like the Pearl, which is basically just a camera set up so you make sure you're getting the whole page or book each time. It might be faster, because with a scanner, you have to wait for the scanner to go back and forth, but I've never set up anything like that. I have a Surface Pro though, so it wouldn't be too hard to set up a frame to hold it consistently over a book of any size and take a picture. I guess I'm less motivated now though, because I can get so much from Bookshare, and I can take care of a lot of the mail I know I'll get online, and almost the rest is junk. Anyway, I get the sense these are books you are reading outside of an academic setting. Either way, as a student, you can get free membership to Bookshare, and if you are creating copies of stuff that isn't already in Bookshare, you can also become a contributor and give better access to blind people across the U.S., and hopefully one day around the world. Okay, I'll get off my soap box now. It's always going to take more work to find obscure stuff, but the good news is that you aren't the only person looking for obscure stuff, so other people will be thrilled if you make it accessible. There was even a team at the university where I work, creating book illustrations, like from comic books, by using a laser to burn in simplified versions. I want to be able to read graphic novels, just like everyone else. I should follow up with them to see where they are on that...