Most of the teen audio that gets a lot of use is the stuff that is either SUPER popular or is assigned at school, and I think that even in those cases the audio is only checked out as a last resort. A lot of sci-fi and fantasy series go out, but I know for sure that those are mostly going home with adults. When an item costs $50 and I'm calling 5-6 lifetime circs "good" I know there's a problem.
I tend to buy audiobooks as an afterthought--three or four big carts a year--and I often delegate the task to an intern (if I have one). In the future I'll keep it to myself, there are definitely some rookie mistakes in that pile. Things I would have known better to buy, and even a few instances where we owned the audio book but not the book proper. I wouldn't think to tell an intern to check if we had the book first, because it seems so obvious to ME. A good reminder for myself, since I will hopefully be hiring a shiny new intern in a month or so.
As I weeded away, I started to consider the idea of interfiling audiobooks with print books in the teen room. It wouldn't work for adults or children, where people browse the collection, but I don't think the teens browse for audiobooks. I might give it a try for six months and see how it goes if I can make it work in the space. What do you think?
You're right, I don't think teens tend to browse for audiobooks. At my library, the teen audiobooks are mixed in with the adult ones (though they have a bright green TEEN sticker on the spine so they're easily identifiable), since even when they were in the teen area it was mostly adults picking them out. Either adults who just like to listen to teen books or else adults who are looking for something teen-friendly to have in the car when they go on family trips.
ReplyDeleteInterfiling them with the print books is an interesting idea! Some teens definitely might grab one if they see a favorite author on the shelf. I feel like they might also end up getting shoved back behind books given their size and shape?