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Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Bookshare.org a great resource for accessible books


Bookshare.org is a site that provides free books to people with bona fide reading disabilities. Bookshare has thousands of books and more being added all the time. The Chafee amendment give Bookshare the right to distribute books to people with print disabilities. There is a wide variety of books, text books, magazines and newspapers to choose from. Bookshare also includes free text-to-speech software that is made for reading only Bookshare books. The software is both Mac and PC. If Bookshare does not have a book that you are looking for you can request it and they will add it to their library.

The text books that are available on Bookshare are a great resource students. Many of the text books are being updated with images for sighted members. Most books take only seconds to download when downloaded over a good Wi-Fi network.

The best part about Bookshare is the cost. They provide accessible books for free, the text-to-speech software is also included. They are able to provide this service because of a grant from the US Department of Education. In order to become a member you must have written proof of disability and be a US resident.

There will be many more tips, reviews and videos about this great service soon.

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