What I'm Reading : Audiobook Edition and More

Over the last few weeks I have finished 3 non-horror audiobooks on Libby. I love listening to audio books  and as the weather gets warmer, I have way more time for them as I also enjoy gardening. 

Here are the books with my three words and links to my comments and readalikes on Goodreads.

• Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Kline [Sweet, Engaging, Character Driven]
• Upgrade by Blake Crouch [fast paced, intricately plotted, genetic engineering]
• Now Is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson [Engaging narration, coming of age, story about creating art]
  

I highly suggest you get a Libby account and give it a try for Audiobooks. The interface is very easy to use and you can filter for audiobooks that are available and even add a few genres. It is a prepaid service with your library card and if you don't get to he titles you have borrowed, no worries, the book will return itself. I always have a few on my phone at any time. 

But Becky, isn't that bad to have books checked out that you aren't reading? No. I always have more books than I could read checked out in print and audio at all times. (I don't do ebooks for fun because so much of my reading for review is ebooks.) And guess what? I am helping the library by having more than I could read checked out because -- and here's where I put my trustee hat on for you-- all the Administration and Board care about is the circulation statistics. The more titles that are checkout the better. These are numbers that can show "return on investment" (ROI). No one ever asks, or cares, if the titles are read. 

Want to help your library sustain its book budget but don't have time to read as much as you would want? Head into the library every week and/or click into your Libby app, and check out a handful of items each week. You can return them the next day, or at your next visit.

Seriously, no one cares if they were read. Just check out a bunch of  books, especially those that you would want to read if you  had the time. This will help drive the statistics about what gets ordered in the future. The collection development people will see all of those graphic novels or Horror, or Mysteries, or whatever you like have healthy check outs and they will add more of the same.

But, why I am telling you, the library worker this? You already know this. I am telling you as an example of what you can say to your users about how they can help you, especially those of you who are struggling for support.

Don't be shy. Tell your regulars how they can help. Trust me. They love being in on the behind the scenes information. 

Added 6/7/23: After publishing this, I received this comment from Jessica Pryde which you can see below which is very fair so I am moving it up to the post proper so that it is not lost:

While I totally support doing this with print books, I would be hesitant to tell staff to boost numbers with Libby, mostly because they won't always know what books are purchased as Metered Access with only a certain number of checkouts (as opposed to one copy one user or MA for a time period). I would hate to take a checkout away from someone who really wants to read it if the library doesn't have the budget to replace the title after 26 or 52 checkouts.