January 29, 2010 Bookshare, NIMAC and Your Students

Betsy Burgess M.A. in Education, Specialty in Learning Disabilities Director of Marketing Presenter Bookshare is a project of Benetech - Benetech’s nonprofit motto: Technology Serving Humanity

3 Accessible Textbooks for Qualified Students I get it! At last!  What is Bookshare?  What is the NIMAC?  Who uses the NIMAC?  How does it work?  What are states doing?

My student needs our language arts textbook in an accessible format. Digital Books Are Easy Literature for 5 th grade

5 What is Bookshare™?  Bookshare is an online library of accessible media for readers with print disabilities.  Over 80,000 Members  Over 8,000 schools and other organizations  Over 65,000 titles  Over a thousand new books added every month Bookshare believes that people with print disabilities should have the same ease of access to books and periodicals that people without disabilities enjoy. Funded by an award from OSEP, the Office of Special Education Programs in the U.S. Department of Education. as of 11/23/09

6 NIMAC - NIMAS Simplified  National Instructional Materials Access Center  National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard  Source for K-12 textbooks purchased after July 19, 2006 when specified by purchase contract  Over 15,000 textbooks and supplementary reading

NIMAC Demystified  Established under IDEA 2004  Requires states to address the need for accessible textbooks for students with print disabilities  Central repository to store NIMAS files  Established at the American Printing House for the Blind, Inc. (APH) with support from the U.S. Department of Education.

8 Finding NIMAC Textbooks  Log in to Bookshare  Search for your textbook  Average turnaround: 1 week or less  DAISY and BRF

9 Finding NIMAC Textbooks  Search the NIMAC and see what is there  Go to  Click on NIMAC repository  Look up book by title, author, publisher, ISBN number.

Textbooks Not in the NIMAC  Search the NIMAC too  Send request to Bookshare  Send physical copy to Bookshare.  Contact your book purchasing department and see if request was made to publisher.  Remember to stipulate NIMAS files in publisher contracts.  Go to to find contract language.

Who Uses the NIMAC?  One state coordinator “names”  Five Authorized Users (AU) who can download files from the NIMAC.  Additional National Authorized Users  States contract with Accessible Media Producers (AMP) to get files ready for students

NIMAC AU’s and AMPs Student needs book Authorized User Gets book And gets it ready for student Accessible Media Producer Repository Assign book Gets book And gets it ready for student Accessible Media Producer

Bookshare as a State AMP  Free Accessible Media Producer (AMP) services  Current average turn around two weeks Teacher Search helps identify state AU who assigns book to Bookshare. Search Bookshare Teacher State AU Bookshare Assign State AU Bookshare

Bookshare as a State AU  Teachers with membership contact Bookshare directly  Searches turn into requests  Bookshare gets books ready for students  Teacher downloads book for qualified student Get Book Search Request Teacher Bookshare Teacher

15 Students Eligible for Bookshare DisabilityQualified/Not Qualified Examples of Certifying Professionals Visual Impairment (VI), such as blindness or low vision Qualified A family doctor, ophthalmologist, neurologist, psychiatrist, optometrist, physical therapist, or other medical professional. Teacher of the visually impaired, special education teacher, learning disability specialist, school psychologist, clinical psychologist with a background in learning disabilities, resource specialist or other educational professional Certification from the National Library Service Proof of membership with RFB&D Physical Disability (PD) which affects the ability to read print, such as inability to hold a book or turn pages Qualified Severe Learning Disability that affects the ability to read standard print Students with a severe enough disability, and a professional certifying that the disability is severe enough and the individual needs accessible formats. Autism Emotional disabilities ADHD Not qualified, unless accompanied by a visual or physical disability, or a qualified reading disability that has a physical basis Not applicable Other Learning Challenges ESL and ELL Record of disability kept at school!

Students Eligible for the NIMAC Bookshare DownloadsWho Can DownloadStudent Qualifications Public Domain booksNon-Members and MembersNone Books with U.S. copyrights Books with International permissions Teachers and StudentsChafee Qualified NIMAC-sourced books Educators (K-12 U.S. public schools, some private schools and agencies) Chafee + IEP Bookshare is authorized to produce digital books in accessible formats through an exemption in the U.S. copyright law called the Chafee Amendment.

Who Can Download NIMAC Files?  Any U.S. K-12 educator with Bookshare membership  Student must have a print disability and IEP  Currently Bookshare has more than 1000 NIMAC- sourced textbooks. Search or browse first Look for your textbooks!

What Are States and Districts Doing?  Be sure you are a Member  Send lists of adopted or purchased textbooks  Include AIM in students’ IEPs  Provide training for teachers on AIM  Get assigned texts from classroom teachers  Request books from Bookshare before school year begins

19 It’s for the Kids!  Get textbooks for access to the general curriculum  Encourage students to read and study independently  Bookshare books, memberships, software and training are FREE!* *Free for qualified US students

Additional Resources      

21 Contact Us!  Important contact information:  Get more information on the following: -School Book Requests -Training and Events -Book Quality -Tech Support -Membership

22 Q&A Bookshare.org is a project of Benetech - Benetech’s nonprofit motto: Technology Serving Humanity Upcoming Trainings (All trainings are on Wednesdays at 1pm PST, 2pm MST, 3pm CST and 4pm EST):  April 1 – 1pm PST – How to Use READ:OutLoud  April 15 – 1pm PST - Individual Memberships for Students  April 29 – 1pm PST – Tips for using Bookshare on a Macintosh