I was thinking how I’ve not mentioned our audiobooks much. We have a nice selection and will soon be adding approximately 30 more.
I certainly understand people who insist they would rather hold a book; I feel that way also! However, there are times that a book just will not work. Take for instance, a long road trip! An explanation is really not needed here as we all know not to read and drive.
Listening to an audiobook will improve your pronunciation and fluency. While the narrator reads the book, you can learn the way they pronounce the different words. Also noticing the reading speed, the pauses, stresses, and intonations can help you have good fluency and command over your language.
Audiobooks give you the opportunity to multitask. You can continue enjoying the story while doing housework, cooking, working out, or going for a walk.
There are so many different ways that audiobooks are good for your brain. They will improve your focus, attention span, and memory. They will build critical listening skills, critical thinking, and improve comprehension. Listening to audiobooks can also reduce stress, calm our minds, and help us be more empathetic.
Another extremely important benefit of audiobooks is the blessing they are for people with visual impairments and other health and reading disorders that prevent them from reading books.
This benefit brings to mind one of our favorite patrons who was an avid listener to audiobooks, Dorothy. Health issues forced Dorothy to turn to audiobooks to satisfy her avid interest in a variety of stories and a way to fill her time. Her husband would often make her audiobook run for her, and we would all scramble to find an audiobook that would not only interest her, but she had not yet listened to.
Using her suggestions, we often ordered audiobooks through interlibrary loan for her. There were times she came to the library to look for herself. It was evident that the trips were not easy for her to make, but we loved seeing her.
After she passed, Lincoln Library was one of the suggested recipients for memorials; friends and family gave close to $1000, making it possible to purchase approximately 30 more audiobooks.