Textbook QA Guidelines

Announcement: Starting on 12/20/2022, the Textbook QA role will temporarily be inactive. For current volunteers serving in this role, please close up any project you are currently working on before this date, as the project site will be temporarily removed. We encourage you to support the Literature QA role in the meantime. Thank you!

The following guidelines will provide additional information on how to rate a book assignment's quality. In Classic Audio audiobooks, the two primary areas that affect the student experience are navigation and audio quality. Your assistance in this process will help quickly identify areas of concern and listening distractions.   

Volunteers should spend about 10 minutes of QA time for every hour of recorded audio. These are intended to be quick reviews to help us understand the user’s experience. Your feedback will help us determine whether or not this book requires a re-record.

Volunteers are expected to self-assign for book review projects. We ask that you assign yourself to one title at a time.

When selecting a title, please be aware of your time constraints. On average, projects should be completed within one week or less. If any review is still in progress after a month, the name will be removed from the assignment sheet. Please be sure to complete a book review before assigning yourself a new title.

Volunteers are expected to provide timely feedback to staff regarding their QA book review. We ask that you submit your feedback within 24 hours of finalizing your QA review.

Volunteers must reach out to staff if they have questions or concerns. We are here to help!

Volunteers are expected to log their service hours in the volunteer portal.

Page Announcements

In Classic Audio, we do announce pages. When checking, please make sure that page announcements are correct and navigable.

If you find errors, please list the incorrect pages in the Worksheet.

Multiple Readers

In Classic Audio, we should have only one reader per chapter at most. When checking, please be sure that each chapter has only one narrator.

If a book does have multiple narrators within a single chapter, please note this in the Worksheet.

Headings (chapters, parts, books, etc.)

In Classic Audio, the headings become the digital table of contents for students, so they must be correct. When checking, please ensure all the headings are in the correct order, navigable, have no skips and are announced consistently.

If a book does have errors within the headings, please note this in the Worksheet.

Audio Quality

Getting the best audio quality is important to our narrators. Are there issues with the clarity of the sound? Is the audio quality poor, or does it contain background noises such as fuzzy, hissing, static, etc., which you find distracting?

If a book has noticeable distractions that affect audio quality, please note this in the Worksheet.

Narrator Quality

Getting the best quality experience for our students is of utmost importance. Because of that, having an engaging read is very important. When listening to this audiobook, please listen for the following narrator quality items:

• Can you understand the narrator?
• Is the narrator's voice too sibilant or monotone?
• Is the narrator error-prone?
• Does the narrator have poor vocal habits like lip smacks?
• Did the narrator interject “uhs” and “ums”?
• Does the narrator stumble in the text?
• Did the narrator cut off parts of sentences or words? 
• Narrator Performance
• Is the narrator a good match for the material?
• Is the narrator engaging?
• Did the narrator keep you interested?
• Did you lose interest in the reading?
• Is the narrator mechanical?
• Is the reading too fast or too slow?
• Does the narrator have poor voice quality?

If you experience any of the following issues, please note this in the Worksheet.

Exceptional read

If you encounter an exceptional read, please let us know and note this in the Worksheet. We like to highlight these titles for our students.