Commercial Audio Books Added to the National Library Service Collection

The National Library Service (NLS) has begun purchasing commercially produced audio books as a way to get current titles to NLS patrons in a more timely manner. These cassettes are reformatted to run at the same speed and have 4 tracks per cassette as the NLS Talking Books. There are already hundreds of these books in the collection.

The titles run from bestsellers to other popular books of interest to NLS patrons. They are recorded according to different standards than NLS uses and are often more dramatized readings. Occasionally, music is included. If NLS purchases a commercial audio book for its collection, it won’t duplicate it with its own version.

If you receive books automatically according to subject and/or author preferences we have on file for you, and the commercial audio books match those subjects, you will receive them automatically. If you do not wish to receive these audio books, you need to contact the library so we can exclude them from your profile even if you do not let the library choose books for you. If do not want these books, but have author and/or series favorites listed, you still will get these commercial recordings if they include any of your listed authors or series. In that case, we would need to drop the author from your list.

If you have any questions, please contact the library.

Memorial Day

All branches of The New York Public Library will be closed from Saturday, May 26 through Monday, May 28, 2007 for Memorial Day. If you need to contact the Andrew Heiskell Library during that time, you may leave a message on our Voicemail at 212-206-5400 or 212-206-5425. Make sure you leave your name and phone number. A staff member will take care of your request as soon as possible once the library reopens, so please be patient.

Playaway Audio Books

Playaways are self-contained audiobooks and players available to New York City residents registered with the Andrew Heiskell Library's Talking Book and/or Braille Library. These small devices fit in a hand and do not have speakers. The library provides a set of headphones and batteries to play them. The instructions for use and a catalog of available titles can be found on the library's website. They have a PL prefix, similar to the RC for cassettes and BR for braille and are searchable with the library's PAWS catalog. You can find the entire list on PAWS by searching the subject Playaway.

If you're registered with the Andrew Heiskell Library for braille and/or talking book service and would like to try Playaway books, please contact the library.

Next Book Discussion Group Meeting

On May 19, Las Mamis: Escritores... by Esmeralda Santiago (RC 54973) will be discussed in Spanish., at 11:00 a.m. Call the library at (212) 206-5400 or or email to register. We hope to see you then.