Thing 22: NetLibrary

Well, here's one problem with technology. For some reason, NetLibrary has not been recognizing our computers at work, so nobody, including me, has been able to sign up for an account for the last week or so. As I was determined to finish this project up, I asked my co-workers to take pity on me and was able to convince several of them to "lend" me their user names and passwords so that I could complete this task.

I've had an mp3 player for 2 years and originally wanted it for audiobooks. However, I never got around to that and instead filled it up with music. Now that I have a dog that can walk (as opposed to my old pup who was elderly),I think I will try out NetLibrary once it's working again.

Since I'm going to see Twilight tonight or tomorrow, I tried looking up that title first but with no luck. I tried a few more random titles with no positive results and then deferred to the list of available titles. It seems like most of the audiobooks available are thru Recorded Books. I was also surprised that 113 Westerns are available but only 13 Horror and 3 Humor. So, I asked my director (who's log-on I was using). NetLibrary is an OCLC product that was originally kind of a collaboration with Recorded Books, who has since defected and is trying to promote their own product. I also wondered if we picked what titles we made available to patrons but learned that we just get what they give us.

I didn't download anything this time because I wasn't sure if that would affect my director's account. However, I think it's a nice site and a great option for audiobooks. We also have a nice selection of Playaways at work (audiobooks pre-loaded on an mp3 player) and just the fact that they are so compact and save shelf space is great. While the titles I was looking for were not an option, there were plenty of great titles to choose from.