{"id":21182,"date":"2016-09-23T01:45:05","date_gmt":"2016-09-23T08:45:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=21182"},"modified":"2016-09-21T09:54:33","modified_gmt":"2016-09-21T16:54:33","slug":"changing-face-of-libraries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2016\/09\/23\/changing-face-of-libraries\/","title":{"rendered":"Changing face of libraries"},"content":{"rendered":"

Isaac Waldman Jewish Public Library librarian Helen Pinsky, left, and master\u2019s student Alisa Lazear, who is working on the library\u2019s audiobooks collection. (photo by Olga Livshin)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

In past centuries, reading aloud was an integral part of family life. People gathered in their parlors to read books to friends and family. In the 20th century, the experience migrated towards radio. When favorite personalities read new novels or classics on the radio, it was a unique pleasure in many communities, especially where access to live entertainment was limited. Then came the TV and the internet. But reading aloud is seeing a comeback \u2013 with audiobooks.<\/p>\n

The Wall Street Journal<\/em> ran an article recently about how audiobooks are the fastest-growing sector in the book business today. In 2015, audiobook sales in the United States and Canada increased 21% from the previous year.<\/p>\n

The Isaac Waldman Jewish Public Library has reacted to this latest development by expanding their audiobook stacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe modern libraries have to change to keep up with the times,\u201d said Helen Pinsky, Waldman\u2019s head librarian, \u201cbut they also stay the same. As ever, they answer the patrons\u2019 curiosity, provide access to information. They are the source of knowledge, whether on their shelves or through their computers. The changes come from different angles. For example, some libraries in the Greater Vancouver area explore novel ways of organizing books: by theme or by the time of publication instead of alphabetically by the author\u2019s name. Such a method is especially convenient for teachers \u2013 who could find books on a particular theme grouped in one spot of the library \u2013 or for researchers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pinsky also expressed concern about the negative impact of technology, however. With internet search engines, in particular Google, and sites like Wikipedia, people have stopped coming to libraries for information.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey Google their questions and get a thousand websites as the answers,\u201d she said. \u201cBut who could guarantee that the data they find in the first 37 hits is correct? Google is dangerous. It is destroying the value of encyclopedias, while librarians know where to find the right stuff. It is specifically true for the medical or legal areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, there are positive technical innovations, and Pinsky emphasized those, especially the digital formats. After ebooks became a huge segment of publishing in the last decade, and audiobooks followed a few years later, public libraries had to adapt to the new demands, although print books still dominate in the Waldman Library catalogue by a ratio of approximately 20 to one.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt might be a different ratio for the city libraries,\u201d Pinsky mused. \u201cThe exclusive supplier of digital books to Canadian libraries is Overdrive. There were a few smaller companies before but they\u2019ve all gone out of business by now. Unfortunately, Overdrive doesn\u2019t have much interest in the Jewish content, so their selection of Jewish-themed books in both epub format and audio format is rather narrow. They don\u2019t have anything in Hebrew either. It might change in a few years, or publishers might start distributing digital content themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, there are some books available through Overdrive that are of specific interest to a Jewish readership, and the Waldman takes steps to broaden its digital choices.<\/p>\n

\u201cAudiobooks are trendy now,\u201d said Alisa Lazear, who is working on the Waldman\u2019s audiobook collection.<\/p>\n

Lazear is studying for a master\u2019s degree in library and information studies at the University of British Columbia.<\/p>\n

\u201cI need to do 120 hours of professional experience as part of my program. It\u2019s an equivalent of one course,\u201d she explained. \u201cI approached Helen to do my professional experience at the Waldman because I love the library. It was Helen\u2019s idea that my focus should be the audiobook collection. We already have some audiobook CDs, so I concentrated on the online streaming from Overdrive. I had to figure out how to download their books, choose which ones would interest our readers, and integrate them with the main catalogue. Then I had to design flyers to educate the patrons how to use such audiobooks.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Lazear\u2019s opinion, the current popularity of audiobooks has to do with people\u2019s chronic shortage of time.<\/p>\n

\u201cAudiobooks are great for multitasking,\u201d she said. \u201cYou can drive, do chores, work out at a gym, and listen to an audiobook at the same time. A narrator also plays a huge role. He is part of the experience, almost like a friend reading to you. Some narrators have a huge following; people would listen to anything by them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lazear thinks that the new digital formats are accessible across the generational spectrum.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy young cousins enjoy listening to their favorite audiobooks before bed or in a car,\u201d she said. \u201cSome older people develop visual impairment, and audiobooks might be the only choice for them as a form of reading.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regarding this latter point, Lazear created an audiobook program, Coffee & Stories, for the Louis Brier Home and Hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had our first meeting on Aug. 7,\u201d she said. \u201cSeveral people came to the activity room. I brought cookies and selected two different audiobooks. We listened to 10-minute clips from each and then discussed them. It was a very active discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Olga Livshin<\/strong> is a Vancouver freelance writer. She can be reached at olgagodim@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Isaac Waldman Jewish Public Library librarian Helen Pinsky, left, and master\u2019s student Alisa Lazear, who is working on the library\u2019s audiobooks collection. (photo by Olga Livshin) In past centuries, reading aloud was an integral part of family life. People gathered in their parlors to read books to friends and family. In the 20th century, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21104,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[784],"tags":[6360,2901,6359,1881,635],"class_list":["post-21182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","tag-audiobooks","tag-ebooks","tag-libaries","tag-technology","tag-waldman-library"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}