APPENDIX A: LISTENERS’ ADVISORY

Audiobooks allow listeners to experience reading in new ways. According to University of Virginia psychologist Daniel T. Willingham, audiobook listeners process content cognitively just as text-readers do. Audiobook listeners absorb the same information, albeit in a different format. The key differences between listeners’ advisory and print readers’ advisory include:

  • The importance of format. Listeners may prefer a book on CD, a self-playing device such as an MP3 player or Playaway, or a digital/downloadable format. 

  • Listeners may prefer a specific narrator or a narrator with a particular style of speaking.

  • Listeners may be choosing audio for a specific reason, such as lack of time to read text (they commute while listening, for example) or difficulty reading print.

  • Spoken word is its own form of entertainment. Listeners may enjoy the voice acting of a particular reader, such as Jim Dale, who reads the Harry Potter series.

  • Some listeners may wish to consume both the print and the audio versions of the story.

  • Listening may increase comprehension for ESL speakers and new readers.

DIRECT (ONE-TO-ONE) LISTENERS’ ADVISORY ACTIVITIES

EXAMPLES

  • Offer patrons the opportunity to request audiobook-specific recommendations from form-based readers’ advisory services. 

  • Direct listeners to resources for narrator discovery through audio clips (Audiofile, Novelist, etc.).

INDIRECT (ONE-TO-MANY) LISTENERS’ ADVISORY ACTIVITIES

EXAMPLES