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EXCEL: A certificate programme in
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E14-Non-book materials
ASSIGNMENT 5
Submit this assignment to your tutor by the date given on the schedule accompanying this course.
Audiobooks aren't just for long trips anymore. The market has taken off since the 1980s when the publishing industry began to record its best sellers. Now, audiobooks are attracting even more fans because of famous narrators lending their voices to read them. You can also easily download them into computers or digital players for future use and pleasure. Since their inception, children's audiobooks have been instrumental in teaching children to read. Now, these same children have grown up and are using audiobooks in college. Audiobooks have always been indispensable to the blind. Now, magazine publications are making their monthly offerings available in audiobook format and the blind are able to subscribe to it in the same way the written version is presented. Self-help books are especially popular in audiobook format. You can become inspired or learn a new job technique just by reading with your ears rather than your eyes. In our world of multi-tasking, audiobooks give people the potential to learn while we work. Their potential looks bright as their popularity increases and more and more we view them as a valuable tool in our everyday lives.
Clearly, you need audiobooks in your library – or more audiobooks, if you already have some titles. Your assignment for this module is to recommend 10 titles for your unrestricted, unabridged non-music audiobook collection.
Step 1 - Using the information provided in this module – including the bestseller lists, the notable recordings lists, the reviews - locate 10 different titles that you think might be useful for the collection in your library or library branch. Record the titles.
Step 2 – Locate and record the order information for each. You may have to go to the website for the publisher of the audiobook. Some of the publisher’s websites were listed on page 19 of this module. How much would it cost to purchase these titles (you may have to convert the US dollar prices to complete this step)?
Step 3 - Write a short report that addresses these questions:
- Why you think that EACH of these titles would be popular in your library? You might want to refer to some of the information mentioned in the opening paragraph.
- Do you think that the people in your community would prefer audio books as tapes or CDs?
- Would you be able to afford to purchase these titles for your library (if you have the authority to do so) - either from your budget or from another source such as a donation from a service club?
- Where would you put these titles in the library (i.e. audio-visual section, special audiobook area, integrated but marked in some way)?
- How you would lend the materials, for example, state loan periods, overdues, number that can be borrowed.
Submit the information you collected in each of the three steps.
*End*
Revised 2007