Hi Judith
 
Braille labelling - there are only 4 suppliers of unabridged audiobooks in the UK, that I know of....BBC Audiobooks, Ulverscroft, WF Howes, and Oakhill.  Both BBC Audiobooks and Ulverscroft are looking closely at the servicing they provide, and are asking for feedback on this.  I suspect that this is where you query comes from.  My experience in Bath & North East Somerset suggests that the embossed Dymo-type number labels are popular on the cassettes, but that Braille labelling is not necessary.  The local blind & partially sighted association only produces 3 copies of its newsletter in Braille, so there is tiny demand for this.  However, it is not possible to have such labelling on spoken word CDs, and though at present we have our local barcode written on each CD, this is very expensive for the suppliers to do, so I am unsure as to what decision we will make on this.
 
As to requests, we always look to see if the item is available in unabridged audiobook which does not take very long.  (Howes & Ulverscroft have online catalogues, BBC produce an annual list, and Oakhill have only started in the last year or so).  If it is available, we try to buy it; if not we don't.
 
We don't, incidentally buy abridged audiobooks at all.  This is partly because they are quite easily available elsewhere, and also we understand that the hire charge is VAT-able (as they are 'entertainment' rather than books in a different format).  Unabridged audiobooks are too expensive to the individual, so we have a strong duty to stock these.
 
I hope that this helps.
 
Thanks
Basil Nankivell
Stock Librarian
Bath Central Library
19 The Podium
Bath
BA1 5AN
 
01225 787420
-----Original Message-----
From: lis-pub-libs: UK Public Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Judith Rhodes
Sent: 26 June 2006 17:00
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Talking Books service


Here in Leeds we're just taking a look at various aspects of our Talking Books service, and I'd be very grateful for information on how people handle the following 2 matters.. I'll summarise for the list, of course

Braille labelling - how is this done in your authority (if indeed it is done!)? In-house or by the supplier? Are there any hopes/ plans for this to become a standard part of the actual packaging?

Requests - given the very different supply conditions for Talking Books, are requests treated in the same way as requests for printed books? I'm not talking about charging or not charging here, just asking if you accept requests for any title whether or not it is in your stock, and whether or not it might even exist in that format!

With thanks,

Judith Rhodes


---------------------------------------------------
Judith Rhodes
Stock Services Librarian
Leeds Library & Information Service

[log in to unmask]
tel. 0113 395 2335



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