Middlesbrough Libraries started
a collection in March to fit in with our Mad March offers. All loans were
free that month. We treat our Playaways exactly the same as all other spoken
word formats, ie free to special needs borrowers (visually impaired and
difficulty holding a book) and charge everyone else. 21 day loan £1.00
hire.
We don't provide headphones although
we do sell them if required.
Batteries are more of a problem as the
normal length of a book requires two AA. Staff are instructed to insert
fresh batteries with each loan and to save returned batteries for recycling.
This is clearly an additional and somewhat hidden cost to us over the cost
of the playaways themselves. We have discussed the possibility of putting
rechargeable batteries in but that is also extra work for the staff. We
would also need some kind of sanction if borrowers took our batteries out
and put their own in.
We got into Playaways because we'd previously
had e-audio where the book is downloaded onto an MP3 player. They weren't
particularly popular because the downloads weren't compatible with
iPod so missed any potential 18 - 30 market. We pre-loaded MP3 players
ourselves to lend to housebound readers but they often found the buttons
were too fiddly. (I write as someone who needs reading glasses when I text!)
Playaways were deemed a sort of beginners MP3!
I've also just checked the issue stats
and found them to be disappointing to say the least. Need to do more work
against income to see whether the borrowers are likely to have been ordinary
feepayers or special needs but either way we will be taking a long hard
look at the format.
We're also looking at MP3 CDs as a possible
replacement for Playaways - this for the uninitiated is where an entire
book is on one CD type thing. I'm advised you can play them on computers,
DVDs and some of the more modern MP3 compatible CD players. Hope this helps!
Alyson Hogarth
Stock Manager
01642 729420
Dear Colleagues
I am looking for feedback on the above
new media in auidobooks. We are hoping to add collections of these
to one brand new library and one newly refurbished.
Whilst customer feedback would be interesting,
I am particularly looking for library authorities' practical experiences,
including for children's items:
- Do you charge for loans, if so how much?
- What do you do about earphones?
- What do you do about batteries?
- How often do you find you are replacing
batteries - for adult's/for children's items?
- Have you experienced any items being damaged
by customers?
All information you
can provide will be really useful, we have to move ahead with this quite
quickly, or not at all!
I will summarise for the list,
Russell Allen
Librarian, West Sussex Library Service.
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