Your Daily Guide

Does Listening to an Audiobook Count As Reading?

Just this month, Mayor Katie Wilson announced the plan for a $470 million dollar library levy, and included in that was an amendment to expand digital books, requests for which have tripled from 2015 to 2022, partially a result of the pandemic. According to councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck, Seattle Public Library is in the top ten worldwide for checking out digital books. At the same time, the library recently reduced how many digital holds a patron can have from 25 to 10. So we wanted to find out what exactly is the deal with e-books, as well as a bunch of other burning questions we had for SPL. And they sent over their best, Tom Fay, Chief Librarian at Seattle Public Library.

• Why do we need more money for digital books? Simply put, they’re more expensive. Instead of buying a physical book, the library buys licenses that need to be renewed every year or so. It’s like leasing instead of owning. So for example, a best seller like Theo of Golden has different costs as a physical book than an e-book. Currently, the library has 166 physical copies of that book, 645 holds, and it costs the library $1,438. The 230 copies of the e-book they have (with 1700 holds) costs them $13,797. And the audiobook has 272 copies and 2,000 holds which costs $24,477. So remember to always cancel your holds if you get the book somewhere else, as holds tell the library about the level of demand.
• What about banned books? SPL joined Books Unbanned in 2023, which lets people all over the country access e-books, regardless of where they live. As a result, over 28,000 young people have gotten a Seattle Public Library card! Great news for people who oppose book bans and censorship. [Seattle TImes]
• Is listening to an audiobook reading? This is a question we on the team debated about and this is a topic a lot of people talk about. What does SPL say? Simply put, yes. But, listen to Tom’s answer today to find out why, and also how to be the best library card holder ever.

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