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Audiobooks: Cheating or no? We ask the pros on prose
It’s a question that plagues book clubs and friend groups across the Pembina Valley. Uncle John in the coffee shop with his buddies, Oma at her Dutch Blitz table, all eager to weigh in on the not-so-age-old debate: ‘If you listened to the audiobook, can you say that you’ve read the book?’ In a world where every reader out there has some form of opinion on the idea, we decided to take it to the professionals and get to the definitive, undeniable, once-and-for-all correct answer. Meet Jess Martens Jess Martens is the Branch Administrator of the Winkler Library, and as such is uniquely qualified to weigh in on the matter. Some would say. “I argue they’re legit reading.” ...Martens, it turns out, is not here to fan the flames. “I also argue that graphic novels are legit reading. I go very much the ‘If you are consuming a book in whatever format, it counts as reading'.” An admitted audiobook sympathizer, Martens shared that the Winkler branch has seen an influx of listeners in recent years via preloaded MP3 devices called Playaways, as well as through resources like the Libby app. “We are planning this fall to start an audiobook club where, unlike regular book clubs... the plan is that we listen to the book at the meeting, so there will be about two hours of listening to an audiobook.” She said the idea is that club members would bring an activity to the meeting, such as knitting, crocheting, or drawing, and work on that while the book is being played. “It’s good for people who never have time to actually sit down and read a book, because life is busy.” Related stories: $18K fundraiser and 1,700 young readers: The year so far with South Central Regional Library A quest for colourful clues through Winkler Library's Bookland Explorer's program Sarah Lysohirk’s take One of the staff at the Winkler Library, Sarah Lysohirk, says that she’s more inclined to read works of nonfiction. A literary genre tightly associated by many with an educated and informed mind. Perhaps she will know the truth on whether or not listening to audiobooks counts as reading. “It’s absolutely reading.” The great debate thus far has proven to be... incredibly one-sided. “I do behind-the-scenes, helping with the office cataloguing and processing things. It doesn't require a whole lot of brain power, so I often will listen to my book club book, and it helps the day go really fast. I love it.” In Lysohirk’s opinion, offering a variety of materials like magazines, audiobooks, puzzles, and board games is one of the ways libraries continue to stay relevant. In fact, it’s due to the accessibility that comes with the audio Playaways that Lysohirk thinks they’re as popular as they are. “You can just run it through your car with the right adapter, so you can listen to it on your speaker system in your car when you’re driving to the cabin, or camping, or whatever.” Another voice firmly in camp audio. A conspiracy, perhaps? We tried again; surely Heidi Friesen will break the streak. She does not. Pointing out that while her personal preference is to read the hard copy of a book, she acknowledged that the audio format has its place. But is it cheating? “Not cheating... An audiobook is nice to get into a book when you need to have your hands free. So, I do some clothing design on the side, and I’ll listen to an audiobook while I’m sewing.” Perhaps if we had left it there, the verdict would have been clear. Three voices in solid agreement: Audiobooks are not cheating. Enter the summer programmers Coordinators Casey Peters, John Burnabe and Sweet Dominique weighed in on the conversation with similar takes, being the first to push back. “Print books, I’m leaning more towards them,” says Burnabe, “Audiobooks, I feel like it’s more of an accessibility thing.” Peters agrees, saying, “[Hard copy]’s more immersive for me and I can read at my own pace... If I want to pause, I don’t have to deal with that.” “You can imagine your own world within the book,” Dominique added. That settles the matter of personal preference, but is it cheating? “I don’t think it’s cheating,” says Peters. “I don’t really think it’s cheating,” adds Dominique. Burnabe agreed. The consensus amongst these literary professionals all points in one direction: listening to the audiobook is not —technically speaking— cheating. Though when pressed to expand on whether or not a person can say they've read a book after listening to the audiobook, each person said "yes", with the caveat that they should specify that it was the audiobook. But the real real question remains... Hard copy, or e-reader?