Week 11 Prompt Response - Ebooks and Audiobooks

Libby is an app that can be used to access ebooks and audiobooks. 

If your library offers access to it, I highly recommend it!

    Before starting my job at the library, I was very much of the opinion that the best way to read a book is to have it physically in your hands. However, of the course of the last year and half-ish I have developed a strong appreciation for different mediums of reading (as a side note, ebooks and audiobooks absolutely count as reading and this is a hill I will die on). There are so many different contexts we find ourselves in while living day to day and it makes sense that, as bookworms, our reading methods adjust so we can spend the most time consuming books. Listening to an audiobook while driving is a great way to pass the time. Reading an ebook makes reading before bed, in the dark, much easier. When traveling, ebooks make your carry-on much lighter and you can take lots more books with you.

    As for appeal factors, for myself personally, reading an ebook versus a physical book doesn’t really affect appeal factors of the book itself, it more has to do with the environment I’m reading in. Being able to change the color is nice when I’m reading before bed and using ebooks allows me to sometimes read on desk while I’m at work (once I’m caught up on actual work, of course) where I wouldn’t be able to read a physical book. I also work in my library’s Home Delivery department and some of our elderly patrons like using ebooks because they can adjust the size of the font to be even bigger than our large print physical books. Though there are also several patrons that we serve that refuse to even consider ebooks because they prefer having a physical book in their hand.

    Audiobooks are a bit of a different story for me though. While I do enjoy them when I’m driving long distances, I am very picky when it comes to the narrator’s voice and speed of reading. I had started listening to The Spanish Love Deception last summer because I needed a book to read while doing chores and I just couldn’t get past the narrator’s voice. It turned me off of the entire book and I still haven’t gone back and finished it. But I read an ebook version of a book by the same author and I absolutely loved it so I do think the format can be an appeal factor in that way.

    All in all, I think it really comes down to personal preference and a willingness to think outside of the book. My first choice is still a physical book that I can hold, and feel, and turn the pages of, but I won’t hesitate to pull up an ebook or listen to an audiobook (after listening to a sample) when the situation calls for it.