Week 9, Thing 22: Downloadable Books

Downloadable Audiobooks are a hit with patrons and something that we should all know about. At Brunswick, we get questions about this option very infrequently - meaning each time we address the subject there is a little re-learning going on by the librarians at the circ desk! As always, we need to be on the look-out for folks who may be interested in these sites and offer up the information. FCPL has so many available resources that patrons miss so much unless we recognize a potential interest and made the information available. When I see a patron checking out audiobooks, I mention these resources and frequently find that the patron is not aware of the downloadable books. Always, there is much interest, but sometimes the patron doesn't have the necessary portable technology (most patrons seem to have Ipods if anything) and I really don't see a lot of interest in accessing these products from a computer.

I looked around Project Gutenberg because this is the site of which I am least familiar. Most surprising to me is the top 100 downloads. After sitting at the circ desk and checking out materials to patrons, many of these titles I would have never expected on a list like this. I suppose this is a reflection more of the available collection - possibly also a reflection of the population that would be interested in downloadable books.