Week 11 Prompt- Audiobooks and Ebooks

In the article, Ebooks and Readers' Advisory Katie Dunnback said, "Books are the brand of libraries. All formats of books. All. Formats" (p.327).  I think this is a powerful statement when the merit of ebooks or audiobooks are questions. Paper books, ebooks, audiobooks and even read alongs have their place and serve a population that might otherwise be underserved.

I believe that the addition of ebooks and audiobooks to the literary landscape has been a great move forward to encourage more reading and more learning. While physically reading the book is great for obvious reasons like decoding words and pronunciation, an audiobook can allow a reader/listener with ability to focus just on content and comprehension. An increase of 83% since 2011, in the production of audiobooks makes a statement to their popularity. Audiobooks can be an important part of the a library's circulation numbers, with most listeners preference in borrowing an audiobook versus owning one. While many people like to go back and reread a book or parts of a book, seldom do listeners go back at a later date to listen to one part of an audiobook.

The increase in production then means there is an increase in demand for audiobooks as readers/listeners fill their long commutes with 'reading a book' instead of listening to the radio. They are also a valuable part of the literacy world for those with poor eyesight that would struggle to read the book, but can enjoy it via audio.

The narrator plays a large role in the success of an audiobook. While most audiobooks that are chosen to be produced as an audiobook were popular in print, they can be a flop if the wrong narrator is chosen. While some listeners have a strong preference for one or two narrators I find that my preference depends on the book. We listen to audiobooks on road trips with the kids and I find that is a tough audience to cover with narrators.  Some try too hard to sound like a little boy or girl and instead of hearing the story I only hear their voice and how terrible it sounds. My kids however never comment on this being something they notice.  We can listen to the same book at the same time and have completely different experiences!  I recently listened to The City of Brass and I am now listening to the next in the series, The Kingdom of Copper. The narrator, Soneela Nankani has a voice that is easy to listen to and slight accent that fits the Middle Eastern influence of the book. She keeps the pace of the book flowing and listening to the book was easier having her pronounce names and words that are of Middle East and supernatural descent. I probably wouldn't read these books if I had to physically read them because they are long and I feel the story flows much better with the narrator.

I love ebooks for the convenience. I love having access to three libraries ebooks at my fingertips- especially right now. Like many others there are reasons to love them, but they change the reading experience. My most recent read was in adobe and on my phone. To make it big enough to read easily I found I was flicking the page all the time as it only had small section of print up at a time.  One page had only 4 full sentences and two partial sentences, that is a lot of page turning!  I miss the feel of the physical book in my hand, but mostly I find the pace of the book is harder to get a feel for when I am turning the electronic page. The lack of physical indication of how much of the book is left leaves me disappointed at end because I didn't have the anticipation of the story ending.

While the readers ability to change text size, font, color, spacing etc can have an impact on the book these are often the features that allow that person to have access to the book. Perhaps they need the larger font but the paper copy isn't in large print. For dyslexic readers these changes make reading easier and more enjoyable. And ultimately isn't that what we want- people reading! Library collections should reach as many patrons as possible and to do that it is the responsibility of the library to balance the collection of print, audio and ebooks and just keep people reading.


Cahill, M., & Moore, J. (2017). A Sound History. Children & Libraries: The Journal of the Association for Library Service to Children, 15(1), 22–29.

Dunneback, K., & Trott, B. (2011). E-books and Readers' Advisory. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 50(4), 325-9. 

Mediatore, K. (2003). Reading with Your Ears: Readers' Advisory and Audio Books. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 42(4), 318-23.