Week 11 Prompt - ebooks and audiobooks

Appeal factors and audiobooks

I frequently listen to audiobooks and as Cahill and Moore (2017) point out, the way the audiobook is produced can have a great effect on how the listener experiences the story. Clearly appeal factors such as tone can be enhanced by productions that include music or other sound effects. Characterization is affected by how the reader/narrator can create the voices for the different characters, or in some cases different readers are used for the different characters. Some readers are so good I find myself wondering later how that book could have been read by one person! Part of my would love to be a reader of audiobooks, but then when I hear a book like that I feel sure I am not up to the task. Maybe I could narrate a non-fiction book! Pacing can also be affected by the way the reader/narrator reads. I listened to one book that I had to give up on because the narrator read so slowly and breathily. I felt like she was trying to make the story a romance novel when it was a mystery with a romantic element to it. 

In talking with patrons and helping them find audiobooks, I think paying attention to the narrator or the group that produces the book will matter. I haven't helped any patrons with this, so I realize I need to include that in my questions that I ask. I don't personally remember what narrators/readers I like to listen to, so I realize I have to be more aware of that, too, for myself. Which means I better start writing that down!

Cahill and Moore (2017) also talk about the value of audiobooks for children. I was encouraging a parent to try out some of our audiobooks and Vox books the other day as a way to help her child learn to read. My kids used to listen to "talking books" when they were young. We had books that came with tapes (yes, real live tapes) and a tape player. So they could hold the book and listen along. They loved them, and it gave me a break to do something while they read (instead of reading to them, which I also did, but sometimes the dishes just need to get done!).

Appeal factors and ebooks

I was talking to a patron just the other day about ebooks. He was not a fan, but then was sad that we didn't have certain large print books. So I pulled out my phone and showed him how he could change the font size if he read with an ebook. And I had my page black with white letters so I pointed out the color option that can make the reading easier on the eyes. But I had never really considered how ebooks can affect appeal factors, and I'm still not sure they do, though Dunneback and Trott's article (2011) made me think hard about this.

If I am reading a thriller, I guess if it gets a little too tense I could change to a different color background, like move to white background and black words. But if it's a good book I'm going to get immersed into it and so I don't think it will really make a difference. I do think font size could have an effect in that it would make me turn the pages more quickly if I have a large font size, and that might cause me to lose track of the storyline sometimes. That could also affect how I feel about the pacing. Dunneback and Trott (2011) mention that if you don't know how close you are to the end you might not feel the pacing as much. I often check where I am in an ebook, so I think that might not be as large of an issue, especially for people who are used to reading ebooks.

I wonder how the look of the writing on the page could affect things like the language aspect of appeal. For example, does the ebook in its different font options change where the line returns, and then does that affect how the reader experiences the work? I think this would be very important in poetry. In works that have lots of dialog it might make it harder to read (if the font is large and there seem to be lots of shorter lines of text). That might affect storyline and pace as well.

We haven't really talked about graphic novels in this class yet, but Dunneback and Trott (2011) mention that as well. Some readers are better at showing the graphics than others are. I think with a good device graphic novels could be properly enjoyed. I will have to ask some of our younger patrons who read these novels if they read them as ebooks. Interestingly, many younger patrons have restrictions on screen time, and this is another factor to consider with ebooks.

Digital materials and circulation

I have become quite interested in the issue of the circulation and cost of ebooks. I had been discussing this issue with a colleague last week and then when I read Gross's article (2021) I became more aware of the issue of access and licensing of digital resources. I often hear patrons wish we had physical copies when we only have digital copies. I thought digital copies were cheaper, but I don't know if that's really true. I feel like buying access or a license really minimizes the power the library has to serve its patrons. The point that with digital materials one cannot buy "used" copies is interesting and I had not thought about it before, but it is relevant. I think the biggest problem I have is one related to freedom of access to ideas. The ALA Library Bill of Rights (2019) states that libraries should help connect patrons to ideas. If publishers can limit access to materials by limiting licenses, that goes against this access. 

References:

American Library Association. (2019, January 29). Library Bill of Rights.

https://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill

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. 

Gross, D. A. (2021, September 2). The surprisingly big business of library e-books. The New Yorker. Retrieved November 30, 2022