Public Librarians discussion

any one have a collection of these? if so, how is that going?

a collection of what?

ow i have lots of those from when i was little.

My library bought 65 titles last summer - they circ like hotcakes and we're going to start buying more of these and fewer books on CD.

We are supposedly getting a collection of them (in fact I placed the order a while ago!), and I am curious to now how they will go over. Do any of you carry them at your library? Are popular titles best? How do you handle the battery situation?

Heather, how do you handle the battery situation???

We decided to have patrons replace the batteries themselves. This has worked out really well - I was worried that we'd either waste time checking the batteries to see if they still had juice (my staff's idea), or throw out perfectly good batteries by replacing them all upon return (to save time). So we sell batteries at the desk for $1, which folks rarely buy - most of them have batteries at home and switch them out themselves.

Each audiobook comes with earbuds, and we pull those out during processing and sell them for $1 each at the desk -- again, most of our patrons have earbuds already. Those who don't just buy a pair of ours to use with the playaways.

We ordered through BWI, and the title selection was still a little thin last summer when we started. BWI, Recorded Books and Playaway themselves are offering more and more, though. We have a mix of classics and popular titles, and they all go out.

It sounds like folks have had positive experiences. I have enjoyed the few I've used as a "customer". I liked being able to control the speed of the story.

Has anyone experienced problems with PlayAways?
If so, what kind?

One of my colleagues had experienced connections becoming loose on some PlayAways where the headphones plug in. I am wondering if this is an isolated experience.

We have a few. Less than 50 that we ordered from Recorded Books. Patrons provide their own earbuds and batteries. They haven't been a great hit at my library even with pushing (displays, media and social media announcements, telling patrons etc.).

We have been circling these for about 8 months. We do not provide the earbuds or batteries. So far our audiobook users at large seem afraid of them. However, we have found that if we stop patrons browsing the audiobooks and tell them about them they are more than happy to try them. So far e drone who has tried them has loved them. They want more! Most people say they like them for the gym and gardening.

Good response at my library too - we gave up on the batteries and only give the earbuds away to someone who says they really don't have a pair at all (which is unusual).