Week 11: Audiobooks and Ebooks

    Ebooks and audiobooks are avenues that can provide a greater number of patrons for a library. Ebooks are great for patrons that are visually impaired by allowing them to increase the font size and even change it to something that they find easier to read. Audiobooks are also great for those who are visually impaired but they are also great for those who find it hard to sit down and read a novel. One of my patrons has dyslexia and she listens to audiobooks because it is easier for her and they allow her to get through titles faster than if she were to try to sit and read a book. Personally, I prefer physical books, but have recently gotten into the habit of listening to audiobooks on Mondays while the library is closed to the public. For me, I find that if the narrator of an audiobook doesn’t have variations in their narrating styles I tune them out and give up on the book. Also, I have been listening to a lot of Regency Era romances, so the majority of the narrators have been English. These narrators have all been great, but I also find that they tend to talk a lot slower than I usually read. When I was reading The Viscount Who Loved Me for my romance annotation I also listened to the audiobook. I listened to the audiobook at 1.5 speed and was still reading ahead of the narrator. My coworkers couldn’t believe that I was able to understand what the narrator was saying, but I find that I struggle to stay interested if the narrator reads too slow. 

    If anything, audiobooks can make or break a genre for listeners. If the narrator for a fantasy series doesn’t perform tot he standard that listeners are used to, it can ruin the series for them. I don’t see any difference between an ebook and a normal book for readers, besides the obvious lack of depth from the ebook. Even with that loss of physical presence, ebooks don’t take away from genre knowledge. If anything, audiobooks add to genre knowledge because if there is new or strange vernacular in the book, the narrator has the knowledge of how to pronounce those terms that the general reader may not have access to. I don’t see any issue with people being able to change the font in an ebook because, whatever the reader changes the font to, it doesn’t change the contents of the book, which is what is really important for determining pacing and tone. Audiobooks are a different story. The choice of narrator can drastically affect readers perception of a book. For example, I listened to the Harry Potter audiobooks a few summers ago and, as much as most listeners like Jim Dale, I absolutely hated the voice he created for Professor McGonagall. Did this detract form how much I love the Harry Potter series? No, but I’ll probably never listen to the audiobooks ever again.