Thing 22: Audiobooks (or "The end is near")

Podcast #22

With your new MP3 player right around the corner, it’s time to take a look around NetLibrary and downloadable eAudiobooks.

Downloadable eAudiobooks is a service provided by Recorded Books which is available through the library’s subscription to NetLibrary.

To establish a NetLibrary account, you must first create your acocunt through the LCPL site. But once you have a Netlibrary user name and password (I know, I know … you’re tired of user names and passwords, but I promise this is the last user account for this program that you’ll have to create) you can access NetLibrary directly and bypass the LCPL site.

For this discovery exercise, you merely need to familiarize yourself a bit with the structure of NetLibrary's Downloadable eAudiobooks site and get an idea of the types of titles you can find here. Take a look around and locate a few titles of interest. That MP3 player is right around the corner and once you have it, you’ll definitely have a reason to try out this popular library service.

Discovery Resources:

• Introduction to Netlibrary* - this 12 minute tutorial covers the downloading process for Netlibrary audiobooks using Windows Media Player 10. (be patient, it may take a few minutes to upload this for viewing)

Discovery Exercise:

1. Establish a Netlibrary account for yourself by accessing Netlibrary through the LCPL site. Note: If you are not a member of the LCPL staff or don’t have a LCPL library card, full access to NetLibrary may not be available.
2. Once you have an account created, you can access NetLibrary directly at http://netlibrary.com
3. Click on the eAudiobooks link and explore some of the 1300 + titles.
4. Create a blog post about your findings. Did you locate a title that you might want to try out and download once you have your player?

OPTIONAL: Try downloading a title from the NetLibrary. You don’t have to have a portable player to listen to audiobooks, you can also listen to it from your home computer as well.

* Tutorial created by Mary Kyle (PLCMC) using free screencasting software Wink.