Week 11 Prompt

Hope everyone had a terrific Spring Break!  I spent mine working and trying to stay caught up with the 4 classes I'm taking.  I see the light at the end of the graduation tunnel!

eBooks are appealing for a multitude of reasons  The PowerPoint presentation in this week's resources touch on a lot of the main benefits of eBooks including the ability to change the print to a variety of sizes, privacy, more opportunities to find free books, better (or no) covers, and ability to check them out of the library even when the library is closed.  Many people read eBooks right before bed because no extra light is needed.  For those that do not have ample space for a multitude of bookshelves, eBooks are ideal because they can hold hundreds, sometimes thousands, of books on virtual shelves.  Without the bulk of the book, individuals are not so daunted about the size of a book and often say it seems like eBooks go faster than regular print books (my mom falls in this category).  eBooks take the problem of needing regular or large print out of the equation.  For those who have sensitivity to the bright white of the page, books can actually be converted to a black background with white text.  Enlarging the text means the reader can also flip through pages faster, giving a greater sense of completion.

Many popular authors are now creating novellas that are only published in eBook format.  This has been frustrating to many diehard fans of authors such as Debbie Macomber.  For some people, internet access, technology know-how, the dislike of having to read a book on a PC, and lack of money to purchase an eReader make it next to impossible to brace eBooks.  Also, eBooks are not user-friendly for those patrons that like to flip through a book to see if they like it.  Katie Dunneback notes that "It is not easy to jump between points in the book if you do not know exactly where you are going" (328).  Other difficulties include the "need to rely entirely on narrative drive to feel the pace of the story. Pacing is also affected by how much text is visible on the screen, so the larger the text, the less there is to indicate how quickly the story is moving" (Dunneback 328).  For librarians, remembering to include eBooks into the readers' advisory interview is crucial.  This can be difficult if the eBook vendor the library uses isn't compatible with the library's online catalog.  At the Mishawaka-Penn-Harris Public Library, seeing what books our 3M Cloud Reader displays has been a challenge as the records have difficulty working with our ILS, Sierra.  Librarians also must feel comfortable in showing the patron how to download the library's eBook app, search for books, and place holds.  Some titles only have 28 circulations before expiring due to publisher restrictions. These typically tend to be the most popular titles.  Librarians need to stay on top of these restrictions to make sure eBook offerings remain appealing.

Audiobooks are also important and very popular among patrons.  With those with poor or no eyesight, audiobooks is the way that they can continue to read.  Just like print books, audiobook listeners develop 'reading' preferences.  Even those patrons that are voracious readers listen to audiobooks "'as a supplement to visual, text-based reading'" (Mediatore 318).  Asking the patron what eBooks they've enjoyed before and why is an important part of the interview.  If the patron enjoys a particular narrator, they might not care what type of book they are given as long as they enjoy the narrator's voice and pacing.  I must admit that I am not a fan of audiobooks.  I can't concentrate on the storyline because I'm too busy doing a million other things.  The ability to read print books is my cherished time.  The one exception is Harry Potter.  As Kaite Mediatore mentions, "One of the superior narrators of the moment is Jim Dale...[who] adopts different voices, tones, and pitches for all the characters in the series" (319).  Dale makes the story come alive, the action filling the entire room.  It's a truly incredible experience.  Things to take into consideration include track length and number of CDs.  Many patrons don't have the patience or time to go through 20-30 CDs. Audiobooks from the library can sometimes be frustrating due to mild scratches that result in skipped tracks.  Typically the genre a user likes from print will also be one that they like in audiobook. One big consideration that libraries have faced in the last 5-10 years is a change in format.  The Mishawaka-Penn-Harris Public Library has withdrawn all of our audiotapes.  Even our audiobooks on CD are not getting checked out like they used to.  Many new cars are no longer coming with CD players.  Online applications such as Hoopla (streaming eAudiobooks) may very well take the whole medium by storm in the upcoming years.  Streaming media is convenient because patrons do not have to juggle a pile of CDs, but it can also be inconvenient is the patron does not have reliable internet access (or internet access at all).

Works Cited

Dunneback, Katie, and Barry Trott. "E-Books And Readers' Advisory." Reference & User Services Quarterly 50.4 (2011): 325-329. Library & Information Science Source. Web. 23 Mar. 2015.

Mediatore, Kaite. "Reading With Your Ears: Readers' Advisory And Audio Books." Reference & User Services Quarterly 42.4 (2003): 318-323. Library & Information Science Source. Web. 23 Mar. 2015.