Bookshare part 3

There are many different ways that books and newspapers are uploaded to the Bookshare library.  The first way that they accomplish this goal is by volunteer work.  Volunteers upload books that they have already scanned independently.  I think that this is a noble quest by educators who really care about students with disabilities.   Publishers and authors can also take the initiative and allow access to digital copies of their materials through Bookshare.  They also have staff that works diligently to get books and the like into the database.  The next way that Bookshare gets access to materials is by universities and schools contributing books that they already have scanned.  I am currently taking a class on Special Education, so I asked my teacher about this practice.  She informed me that most larger universities have a department where students with disabilities can take their textbooks and have them converted into different types of media that are appropriate for the students.  I was astounded.  The final way that Bookshare gains access to materials is by educators assigning books to Bookshare from the NIMAC repository.  NIMAC stands for National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard.  NIMAC was created under IDEA 2004, which is the Individuals with Disabilities Act of 2004.  The law is in place for “ensuring services to children with disabilities throughout the nation. IDEA governs how states and public agencies provide early intervention, special education and related services to more than 6.5 million eligible infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities.”  NIMAC states that they, “ receives source files in NIMAS format from textbook publishers, and makes these files available for download to Authorized Users in the United States and its territories through an online database. Once downloaded, files can be used to create a variety of specialized formats, such as Braille, audio, or digital text, on behalf of qualifying blind, visually-impaired or print-disabled students in elementary or secondary school.”