I was happy to read about this week's discussion topic. As I mentioned in a WebCT discussion post, I had the opportunity this year to work with a 5th grade student who was visually impaired. The year prior to that, one little girl in my 2nd grade class was extremely hearing impaired. Both of those experiences opened up my eyes (and ears!) to the special needs of students.
Bookshare.org provides a wealth of reading materials for those who are print disabled (that term was new to me). My first instinct was to see what exactly is available to students and from there I saw the "Schools and Groups" menu option. It seems that this service is a good option not only for classroom teachers, but clearly for the librarian as well. And...it gives students access to thousands of downloadable books.
Ok, I can't work in public education and not think about the cost. So, for a block of books that are available to all registered staff and students the following fees are incurred:
30 book download - $300
60 book download - $450
100 book download - $600
My first impression is that the cost is a bit on the higher end. Librarians are well aware of the measly budget allotted to them for the annual collection development. However, perhaps this fee can be taken from the computer software budget? Perhaps that can be finagled some way? Or (an I'm already thinking of the possibilities) schools can have book sales, fundraisers, etc.
I searched quickly through what's available at the bookshare.com collection and was impressed by the results - even for younger children. In addition, when you click on a book - you receive helpful book information such as summary, quality, ratings, etc.
If schools look at their student population and determine that there is a need for a service such as this, then they will find a way to provide for their students. In this instance, what better person to initiate this than the librarian. The librarian has the benefit of seeing all students and the responsibility to respond to student needs.
~Kate
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2 comments:
Bookshare does seem like a wonderful resource to have at our disposal. Administrations will have to weigh the benefits against the cost. Hopefully, the children will win out in the end!
**Beatrice**
Hi Kate,
I agree with you that I think it would make the most sense for the librarian to purchase this resource subscription. The first reason as you stated is that the library is a central location where the resources could be access by everyone. In addition, the library media specialist could then promote the benefits and use the of the technology and do workshops on how to use it. Also, due to the cost, it also makes sense for this subscription to be be purchased in the library.
While I'm on the suject of cost...I guess I had not read the fine print because I had no idea that all these other fees applied. I guess I had to dig deeper for that information. I thought you only had to pay the annual subscription and sign-up fee, I had no idea you had to pay for the downloading of books. I agree with you that the rates they've listed are quite high, but as you mentioned it might be possible to pay for this through software funds. Even those, however are limited. I purchase databases such as KidsInfo bits, online encyclopedias, BrainPop and United Streaming and the money goes so quickly. I ran out this year and still had more online subsciptions I wanted to purchase.
I guess this will be the librarian and the school's decision depending on whether they feel this resource truly meets the needs of their particular population. Priorities will have to be weighed to decide what is needed most, since as I learned, you can't have everything :(.
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