by Pat Price
Not wanting to make their patrons wait another five to eight years to enjoy current popular titles in copyright-secure audio formats in CD audio quality, the Mid-Illinois Talking Book Center (MITBC) in Pekin, Ill. has launched an innovative pilot program to distribute eAudio digital talking books to its patrons. The technology is already here and is being enjoyed by thousands of sighted readers, so librarian Lori Bell says, “Why make our blind and visually impaired patrons wait for more testing and evaluation to enjoy it?” With the launch of this service in January 2003, MITBC became one of the first talking book centers in the country to offer digital audiobooks to its readers through Audible.com.
The eAudio project, established in honor and memory of its former director, Eileen Sheppard Meyer, involves the loan of a very tiny MP3-like player, the Audible Otis, that has been loaded with two to three full-length, unabridged, premium spoken audiobooks (not read by a speech synthesizer) selected by the patron from the library’s special collection of audiobooks. The player has 64 MB of built-in memory which allows for approximately 20 hours of reading time. There are no cassettes or CDs. The package provided each reader includes just the small player, headphones, batteries and instructions for its use. The library patron will use the digital player for 2 weeks and will then return it by mail to the library for use by another patron. Project participants need not be computer literate to participate in the project.
At the close of the pilot program in June 2003, Tom Peters, a national eBook expert, will write an evaluation report on the project and the experiences of the readers who participated. The MITBC staff will then decide if or how the project and service will be continued.
The source of the audiobooks is Audible.com, a private company and the Internet’s leading provider of digital, downloadable audiobooks. Its services are available to individuals, public and private libraries and K-12 school libraries on a fee-paying basis. The books can be downloaded and read from one’s hard drive, copied to a CD, or transferred to the Audible Otis MP3 player. There are a number of plans to fit individual budgets.
Audible.com has experienced a significant increase in the adoption of its program by sighted and vision impaired “listeners” who appreciate having access to new releases and best-selling audiobooks as soon as they are commercially available. As a growing number of blind and vision impaired people are subscribing to the commercial service, Audible.com is doing everything possible to enhance the accessibility of its service, including the posting of ACB Radio director Jonathan Mosen's excellent tutorial which aired last year on ACBRadio.org’s Main Menu.
As a rapidly growing number of visually impaired readers are using and enjoying the Audible.com service, an electronic user group has been established. You can join by going to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BlindAudibleListeners/.
How very fortunate readers are if they live in the area served by the Mid-Illinois Talking Book Center. But for those whose libraries have not yet caught the vision, just go to www.audible.com. There you will find more than 18,000 well narrated talking books waiting for you!
If you live in the area served, contact: Lori Bell, MITBC, 845 Brenkman Drive, Pekin, IL 61554. Phone (800) 426-0709 or (800) 537-1274. E-mail [email protected], or visit the web site, www.mitbc.org.