[LM_NET] Audio Books: Not Really Reading?

[Shonda Brisco <sbrisco@FWCDS.ORG>]

I have recently had some discussions with librarians about audio books---primarily 
using audible books via an iPod for listening.  While the technology issue is one 
thing that I talk with them about (basically trying to explain it), the issue that 
strikes me as being rather unbending is the idea that these librarians have stated: 
 "Listening to books on tape / audible version is NOT reading."

While I understand the concepts of the difference between the printed page and the 
audio page, I cannot seem to grasp the idea behind their belief that a student who 
CAN read but chooses to listen to books instead is NOT reading.  As a librarian for 
the blind for ten years, I helped hundreds of students who would never be able to 
read print find literary skills through listening to books on tape.  When I 
presented that issue, these librarians dismissed it as being a "handicap issue" 
rather than an issue of literacy for "normal people."  

When I asked if ONLY books in print, read with the actual book in hand, were 
considered to be REAL reading, they all agreed.  When I asked if books in print 
that had been digitalized for electronic reading was REAL reading, they agreed in 
part only because the information COULD be printed out (which is another issue 
too).  But when I asked if the book that was in print but placed in an audio format 
could be considered "real reading" ---they said, NO.

Their comments where that "real reading" included seeing the words, the 
punctuation, the way the sentences were formed, and the relationship of the words.  
My question was whether those elements could also be understood by the auditory 
learner WITH a book in hand and a tape / audio version?  They said, "ditch the 
tape."

I don't know if I am really sensitive to the issues of "reading" in all formats 
available to students and their learning styles or abilities, or if I am just a 
little sensitive to the complete disregard of anything that is not in a bound 
format, but my final statement to these librarians was, "Get ready for it, 
ladies.....reading formats are changing and we need to prepare our students for 
EVERY possible medium that may become available to them---or they will become 
illiterate in the modes of information transmission / reception."  

What are your ideas?  Are audio books considered "real reading" for students who 
can read or who might be using them in cooperation with the print for better 
understanding of the text?  I've pondered this for about a month and a recent 
discussion once again brought me back to the same place. 

Thanks for your insights!

~Shonda




Shonda Brisco, MLIS
US / Technology Librarian
Fort Worth Country Day School
Fort Worth, TX

"Start by doing what is necessary, then what is possible and suddenly you are doing 
the impossible."
 ~St. Francis of Assisi
sbrisco@fwcds.org
http://www.fwcds.org/campus/libraries/default.asp

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