Audiobook Advisory

Audiobooks continue to grow in popularity, as evidenced by the amount of copies of top titles in OverDrive. For instance, Laura Dave’s current bestseller “The Last Thing He Told Me” currently has 467 holds on 85 copies.

While certain titles will be popular in all formats, audiobooks do have an extra hurdle that print books don’t: what if the reader isn’t good? Any number of factors can contribute to not enjoying the narration of an audiobook–the reader chooses to take on accents they shouldn’t, inconsistently pronounces or mispronounces names, or they just don’t seem to fit for the listener.

While traditional reviews and word of mouth on a book can help in selecting whether to choose an audiobook, there are now more outlets that specifically review the audio experience.

AudioFile Magazine reviews many new releases, along with an extensive back catalog of reviews.

Book Riot has an audiobook-specific vertical on their website with reviews, news, and articles. They just released an article called “Who Listens to Audiobooks”, which highlights an interesting study done called Immersive Media and Books 2020. An especially interesting statistic for library staff: 81/4% of survey respondents that listen to audiobooks have a library card.

Vulture, the culture website of New York Magazine, has been doing a monthly audiobook recommendation article that generally includes some more obvious bestseller releases (they recommended “The Last Thing He Told Me” for July) with some more obscure fare. One other aspect that is interesting about Vulture’s coverage is they note the speed you can listen to the book at for optimal listening pleasure. One major positive to the growing shift to e-audio is being able to speed up narration when appropriate.

As audiobooks continue to grow in popularity, there will surely be more coverage specific to the audio experience of a title. These sites are a great place to start for both those new to audiobooks and those that go through multiple books a month.

Jeff, South Park

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E-Magazines

As we are heading into the final month of summer I wanted to draw your attention to Flipster.

Flipster is great for those not so careful patrons (or librarians;)) who want to take along popular magazines to the beach or poolside.

Flipster Apps

With 71 popular titles, everyone is sure to find the perfect light reading for their end of summer vacations!

Gabi B. – Robinson Library

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Quick Link to eKids

Are you sending people to the eLibrary page, either as a link from your website or in marketing materials? Keep in mind that it can be a LOT to sort through (especially for kids) and not all of it is appropriate or useful for all ages! Send your younger patrons instead straight to the eKids page with the below link, or let them know to click “Kids” or “Teens” at the top right of the eLibrary page for the best resources for their age group. And in case you need it, here’s an awesome graphic to use in your marketing (shoutout to Richelle of our Downloadables Committee for that one!).

Kids – eResources for Allegheny County Public Libraries (einetwork.net)

Heather Auman
Western Allegheny Community Library

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eTips for Library Patrons

Do you often have patrons ask you what the best library app is or what they should use to access library materials from home?

Well the Digital Resource Committee (the librarians you see post here) are here to help and we even have an updated eTips handout for you to use! You can access this handy tip sheet via this website. Just click on Marketing Materials at the top of this page and then scroll down to the eTips handout where you can print off these handy sheets to give to patrons whenever the are struggling to pick the app that best suits their needs.

You can also click the link above to be taken directly to the eTips Handout!

-Adrianne, Northland Public Library

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