ANDREW NOSTVICK OP/ED EDITOR
The Waverly Public Library is offering Wartburg students the opportunity to download audio books online.
Through the use of the North Eastern Iowa Bridge to Online Resource Sharing (NEIBORS), which is located on the Waverly Public Library page, students can download as many as 1,000 audio books.
The program was brought into the library a little over a year ago, said library director Sarah Meyer-Reyerson.
She said the collection is expanding and the books come at a relatively low cost because they're apart of a group of libraries that have pooled resources.
“I think it's a natural next step in evolution of formats here,” Meyer-Reyerson said. “There's no way we can afford to buy a collection of these downloadable books as an individual library, especially when we're buying them in CD format as well and print probably too.”
Vogel's Information literacy librarian Kari Weaver said she has used this service before and has found it to be convenient and simple to download the books to her MP3 player.
“I use it most frequently when I am driving long distances to visit family,” Weaver said, “I have also used similar products in other locations around the country and this is the first product I have used where I was easily able to download content in the MP3 format instead of downloading it to a proprietary player only available on my computer.”
Meyer-Reyerson said users have a chance to download these books chapter by chapter. She adds that users have a length of time to download the files, usually about a week or two depending on the book and the licensing.
“The ones I've downloaded to my MP3 player, they just stay there until you delete them,” she said.
Meyer-Reyerson said the public library is able to complement and add to what the Vogel Library can offer because Vogel has some popular titles in their collection, but focuses more on academics, whereas the public library focuses a little more on popular material.
“We want to welcome all Wartburg students to use our library for all kinds of resources anyway and it may just be one resource that we have that they're not aware of,” she said. “The titles that we order for this kind of collection are going to be your more general reading.”
Once at the NEIBORS page, students will need to install the Overdrive software, which will help them access audio books. Users also need to click on Waverly from the list of libraries.
Students need a Waverly Public Library card to access the audio, which all Wartburg students are eligible to get. Meyer-Reyerson said if students don't have a card, they can stop into the public library and only need to bring their driver's license.
There is a how-to installation guide on YouTube for all students to use. To view the how-to guide, go to youtube.com/user/WaverlyReference. Click here for the NEIBORS page.