Listen Up: eAudio at OPL

Although Online Audiobook demand has not been the phenomenon that eBook demand has been, it is still a popular format that may gradually replace physical audiobook demand, with between 2,000-2,500 audiobook checkouts per month on Overdrive alone. (OPL hasn’t seen a drop off in audiobook checkouts, yet, with Adult Books on CD making up for about 1.2% and Juvenile/YA combined making up for about 0.4% of total circulation in both 2013 and 2014. So maybe eAudio is being discovered by a whole new audience.)

Our Overdrive audiobook collection has over 2,700 titles and growing and, unlike with some of our eBook licenses, audiobook licenses never expire, so we “own” them all in perpetuity. Almost all adult audiobooks are ordered from patron requests plus additional copies to fulfill holds. As with physical audio, not all books -even bestsellers- are published in audio format, which may be why your patrons sometimes don’t find what they are looking for. Most of the audio titles are ordered in MP3 format, which can be downloaded to any device. Occasionally, that is not available and we get WMA audiobooks, which can only be downloaded to Windows computers and then transferred to Apple devices or portable devices that support DRM-protected WMA files. This is indicated at checkout.

You’ll notice that, when the icon in the corner is grey, that audiobook is not available (either it is checked out or not yet published) and a hold must be placed. You can choose to limit the search to available titles to find only audiobooks that can be checked out immediately. Once an eAudio title is checked out it will appear in your bookshelf. You will need to download it to a device before listening to it. Once it is downloaded, the “Return Title” icon next to the cover image will disappear and that book stays with you until it expires after the 7, 14, or 21 day checkout you selected at checkout. Learn more about checking out and downloading audiobooks on Overdrive here.

Challenge: How many WMA audiobooks are currently in the collection? How many MP3 audiobooks were available for immediate checkout at the time you searched? (Hint: Use advanced search.)

In addition to Overdrive, we have a second  eAudio platform called OneClick. OneClick is the platform for Recorded Books proprietary titles that are not available anywhere else. This is a collection of a few hundred titles, and it is steadily growing through a small standing order plan of Recorded Book bestsellers that are bundled with Books on CD. You will also find some public domain titles here, and recently we began adding Pimsleur language-learning kits. There are few juvenile or YA titles on this platform currently, and no foreign language titles.

Challenge: Which languages are currently offered in our OneClick Pimsleur collection?

Anyone can search or browse OneClick content, but you will need to register for an account to check out titles. Depending on your device, one of the current eAudio apps, like Google play for Androids and iTunes for ios devices will work. There is a desktop app for Windows and one for Mac computers. Ten days is the maximum checkout period on OnceClick and users can select to check out for any number of days down to one. Learn more about checking out and downloading audiobooks on OneClick here. (Please note, although OneClick is now offering eBooks, we only order eAudio on this platform.)

As with eBooks, eAudio titles are added to the Encore monthly, so patrons can look for these titles without having to check between platforms. They will need to leave the catalog to do everything else for OneClick, and to download the audio to their devices and search for additional titles to recommend in Overdrive. Plus the very latest acquisitions will not usually be found in the catalog.

That's all, folks. Thanks for listening.

Tamar Kirschner

Collection Development Librarian