PLA Blog

The PLA Blog has a policy of not blogging vendors, and with very good reason, since it can get messy if it seems too much like an endorsement, and avoiding those shades of gray is best. We will, however, allow posts that include vendor information if it relates directly to a particular library project.

While I’d like to talk about the audiobook trends session I attended on Saturday, June 25, it really was too much of a vendor presentation session to say too much about it. In general, I would much rather hear about what libraries are doing with vendor products, since that tells a way better story about the product itself than yet another vendor presentation. The most valuable (and bloggable) bits were presented by Jenny Levine, of The Shifted Librarian fame, and Scott Brick, a library book narrator.

Jenny spoke about her work with the Listen Illinois program, which was based on and created in partnership with the Listen Ohio program. Both programs provide access to a large catalog of digital audiobooks to participating libraries in the state.

Audiobooks are loaded by the library staff onto specific players owned by the library, and patrons can then check out the players. The audiobooks cannot be downloaded to patron players, since the players must be registered with the service and owned by the library. These limitations do seem to be on their way out, Jenny says, because Audible (the vendor they work with) sees the writing on the wall from the competition, and how consumer demand is for home download and self-service features. Jenny did say that she’d love to see a kid’s letter writing campaign to JK Rowling, encouraging the author to license the Harry Potter books to a digital audiobook service, because she could see such a popular series from a rock star author making waves and changes in favor of libraries in the audiobook industry, and I agree.

Working with Listen Ohio was a wonderful mentorship/collaboration relationship, since it helped the Listen Illinois program get off the ground really quickly, and they are able to share collections, making the selection of audiobooks more appealing. I would even say that it could give them clout in negotiations with Audible.

There have been some issues with the web site, and with the software (the software is more a consumer model than a library/patron model), but these are issues that aren’t hindering the success too much, and will be addressed in the future. However, the program continues to be very successful, which is encouraging to hear. Patrons who use the service love it so much that they follow the rules carefully to make sure their privileges aren’t revoked.

I’d love to see more services like Listen Illinois and Listen Ohio, since I think they’re good for patrons and libraries, and the more programs there are, the more the audiobook industry will need to listen.

Scott Brick has an excellent voice, and once upon a time he was an actor looking for work. As an audiobook narrator, he gets to pick which books he reads, and has an excellent time going to work. He also has fans, which is just plain cool, and not something the everyday person would think is a perk of being an audiobook narrator.

He told several funny stories about having fans. One really entertaining anecdote involved a guy in bar (who happened to look like the lead singer from Men At Work) who is desperately trying to stay awake, so he starts a conversation with our narrator friend, asking him questions. When Scott mentions that he’s an audiobook narrator, the guy’s eyes get big, and asks his name. After Scott introduces himself, the guy shouts, “I’m your biggest fan!” And since the guy looks like lead singer from Men At Work, Scott says, “I’m yours!” Turns out that this guy in the bar is currently listening to 5 of Scott’s titles *simultaneously*. Rockin’.

My recommendation all audiobook fans out there: send a fan letter to your favorite audiobook narrator, if you have one, and let them know they’re a rock star, too.

Tags: ALA2005, conferences

This entry was posted on Monday, June 27th, 2005 at 9:39 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.