Week 10 Prompt

EBooks and Audiobooks: What's the appeal?

    I had always been a large fan of physical books, that was until the stay-at-home orders began taking affect. Long before the COVID-19 pandemic, I loved the tactile properties of a physical book. The smell, the weight, the pages... all important factors in my relationship to reading. Throughout college I spent a lot of time at the printer, making sure to have a physical copy of the readings so I could see my progress, highlight, and look back for additional information. Ebooks never appealed to me because they seemingly lacked everything I loved about sitting down on the couch with a blanket and a good book in my hands. 

    Jump ahead to 2021, just one year after COVID-19 began to impact daily lives in Indiana, and I own my very own e-reader. It seems like a complete 180, but I promise it was much more gradual than it sounds. Having worked in a public library for several years already, I was aware of IndyPL's e-resources and familiar with assisting patrons who needed help downloading Overdrive, sign in with their library card, and search for titles. Fast forward to IndyPL's temporary close in 2020, and suddenly ebooks became the best way to find new and popular titles. I read my very first ebook, Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens on my 3x6in smartphone. Why, you ask? I was board, needed a book to read, AND it was... you guessed it...a "Lucky Day" copy. 

    Ebooks certainly have their strengths like our prompt mentioned. You have the ability to carry multiple titles in a smartphone, computer, tablet, or reader. You also can change the brightness and increase the font size, making it that much more appealing. For myself, none of these features really stood out to be beyond the fact that I had my hands on a copy of a very popular title within just a few clicks (less than 5 minutes really). Once the stay-at-home orders went into affect, the IndyPL system reallocated over one million dollars from their physical book collection to their digital resources (which I believe was something closer to 2 million...more money than I will ever see in my lifetime!!) As the Wired article  mentioned, public libraries and ebook publishers continue to go head to head trying to balance cost and need. Thank you to every library fighting to make sure patrons have access to these titles!

    What about audiobooks? Well, I don't have a whole lot of personal experience with them to be honest. I am still entering the world of podcasts and audiobooks, although many of my friends are already enjoying them. I have a short commute, so I barely have time to listen to anything on my way to and from work. For many, audiobooks are another means of collecting information and hearing stories that they aren't able to have normally. If they have a long commute, have difficulties readings, or do not enjoy reading, it is certainly another method of reading. I hear some critics say listening to an audiobook is not the same as reading a book, and they are absolutely correct. You are using a different sense to consume that information, but still taking in the information are you not?