Listening to the Future of Reading: Audiobooks and Readers’ Advisory Jessica E. Moyer, M.S., C.A.S. University of Minnesota, Twin-Cities Kansas Library Association/Mountain Plains Library Association Conference Listening to the Future of Reading Preconference: April 1, 2009

Welcome  Appeal of audiobooks  Research about audiobooks  RA for listeners  Reviewing and evaluating audio productions  Popular narrators and collection development  Additional resources online at: s

Appeal and Vocabulary From the Audiofile Lexicon by Mary Burkey  Full Cast, Partially Voiced, Fully Voiced, Dramatization, Unvoiced, Multi-Voiced, Spoken word production  Narrator/Voice Actor,  Narrator Match  Unabridged and Abridged  Audio Original  Accents  Musical cues or tags, Incidental Music  Simultaneous release  Digital/Downloadable audio  DRM  CD, MP3 CD, MP3 Player (ipod), Cassette

Research

Listeners’ Advisory  All the appeals and tools of readers’ advisory  PLUS narrator and production  Narrator can override other appeals  Listeners may often prefer genres or appeals in their audio that are different from their print reading  Format and time constraints must be addressed  Sex, language, violence all can come across stronger in audio as they cannot be “skimmed over”

Evaluation  Review the jacket, cover blurb, and length  Start listening and take notes on narrator, pace, performance, and accents  Technical issues and production quality  Consider the entire audiobook  Write up your review or annotation  See How to Listen to a Book in 30 Minutes at in-30-minutes

Popular Narrators  Barbara Rosenblat  George Guidall  Simon Vance  Dick Hill  Scott Brick  Gerald Doyle  Jim Dale  Davina Porter  Audiofile Golden Voice Award  Booklist “Voice of Choice”

Collection Development  Interfiling formats  Review sources  Publishers  Traditional formats  Digital or Downloadable Audio  Playaway

Thank you!  Audiobooks are fun and good for you  They are just as good as reading a “real” book  Listening comprehension is an important skill for all ages to develop and practice  The best advisors are listeners  Regardless of format, audiobooks deserve a place in all library collections and must be part of readers’ advisory transactions