Libraries for the Blind and Print Disabled

Remote volunteering can be a good way to increase output, find potential volunteers with a variety of skills and specialties, and mitigate the impact of being unable to do onsite recording. Some considerations for starting and maintaining a remote volunteer program are listed below.

In general, preparations for a remote volunteer program involve preparing/creating applicable documentation and identifying equipment-related solutions/strategies.

• An onsite application form can be repurposed, but creation of a targeted application is advisable

• Excel/other spreadsheet with columns for volunteer name, date, book, and start and end times.

• Written or video documentation on how to complete core recording tasks (recording, editing, corrections, review).
• Ideally, training resources would be available for completing tasks in more than one software applications (i.e. Hindenburg and Audacity).
• Links to helpful/relevant YouTube tutorials can be sent to volunteers as supplements, too (i.e. videos on how to record quality audio at home).
• Collecting feedback from volunteers able to achieve good quality recordings at home on their setups can be an effective way to get extra information and improve documentation.

• //Specification 1202:2018 Digital Talking Book Mastering//
  • In addition to being a good resource for general considerations (especially //3. Technical Requirements of the Audio Recording//), it can also be an interesting resource for volunteers with professional/semi-professional narration experience, or those looking to get into professional narration/voice-over work.

• Depending on available resources, it may be desirable to provide volunteers with computers equipped with recording software (Audacity, Ocen Audio, or similar).
• For libraries without access to computers to lend to volunteers, ability to use personal equipment can also be set as a condition of remote volunteering.