Library Corner: An ear full of chipmunks

Whenever my husband gets into my car, he utters the same six words: “How do you listen to that?” To be fair to him, it is not an entirely unjustified question. You see, my daily commutes are fueled by what sounds like the rapid, squeaky voices of Alvin, Simon and Theodore. I listen to audiobooks at such a speed that most casual listeners would think that all the narrators are members of the Chipmunks.

As a librarian, being well-read is part of the job description. Reading and listening to stories is also my chief delight in life, so I guess I am in the right line of work. I am always trying to find ways to squeeze more reading into my days.

Many years ago, I attended a workshop at the Perkins Library in Watertown. This library is unique in our area, as it exclusively serves patrons with visual impairments or other print disabilities. While there, a blind librarian showed me how he accessed digital audiobooks. When he began playing the novel he was reading, I couldn’t make out a single word. He was listening at warp speed. That’s when I asked a slightly more polite version of my husband’s question: “How did you learn to listen to books that fast?” His response was very matter-of-fact: “Practice.”

He went on to tell me how.

Before that day, I mostly borrowed audiobooks on compact discs. Even though libraries were beginning to offer digital audiobooks, CDs were a comfortable, familiar format for me. But CDs couldn’t be sped up (at least, not in my base Toyota), and digital audiobooks could. So I downloaded the OverDrive (now called Libby) app and gave listening at 1.25 times normal speed a whirl. After a few months, I had maxed out the audiobook speed setting. I was whipping through books.

I felt like Tom Cruise in “Top Gun.” I felt the need, the need for speed.

While a desire for more rapid reading was what pushed me to abandon CD audiobooks, it was the catalog of titles that kept me loyal to the format. I was finding things that no library had on its actual shelves. I went down rabbit holes in genres that I didn’t even know existed.

It took a while, but many others have joined me in my digital warren. In recent years, patron demand for digital audiobooks has skyrocketed. This trend was helped along by stay-at-home orders brought about by the pandemic, as well as by greater awareness of the format on social media, subscription products such as Audible and the resurgence of spoken-word entertainment, including podcasts.

In response to this growing trend, librarians are constantly expanding collections. Weston patrons have access to 127,608 digital audiobook copies in Overdrive/Libby, and a further 374,478 through Hoopla. That is over half a million audiobooks available at the tap of a fingertip.

While we will continue to maintain a modest collection of CD audiobooks for as long as there is demand, we will never be able to house half a million titles in our moderately sized library. That’s why it is so exciting that we can genuinely provide something for every reader in our e-Library.

Physical books are still my preferred way to consume my daily literary intake, and I am not alone. 81% of last year’s checkouts at the Weston Public Library were physical items, with regular, old paper books representing the overwhelming majority. Still, I love that I can turn chore time into story time with an audiobook. Folding laundry is downright pleasurable with a little chipmunk yammering away through my AirPods. This past summer, I even bought some new Bluetooth hearing protection earmuffs for when I use outdoor power equipment. Now I practically fight my husband over who gets to mow the lawn or handle fall leaf cleanup. As it turns out, all you need to have a tidy house and yard is the right book, which in my case happens to be the latest Louise Penny or Michael Connelly. I’m solving the case while putting things in their place.

If you want to learn more about how you can access digital audiobooks for free through the library, visit westonlibrary.org/elibrary or simply stop by the Reference Desk. Even if you listen at normal speed, your to-be-read pile will shrink almost as fast as your laundry pile, I promise.

Allison Palmgren is the assistant director of the Weston Public Library