New Booklist blog: Listening, Learning and the Joy of Headsets
Contact: Mary Frances Wilkens
Booklist
312-280-5715
NEWS
For Immediate Release
December 2, 2008
CHICAGO -- Booklist Online announces a new addition to its growing family of blogs
—“Audiobooker,” by teacher, school librarian and certified audiobook addict Mary Burkey. Burkey’s blog, launched independently a year ago, has already won loyal readers with listening notes, teaching resources, classroom examples and what she describes as an “online scrapbook of audiobook minutia, digital literature ramblings, and random ridiculous addendums.”
While the voice and focus (“listening, learning and the joy of headsets”) of Audiobooker won’t change with the move to
Booklist, they will be enhanced by the addition of free links to valuable
Booklist Online content: reviews, lists and articles. And, as always, Burkey will direct readers to a wide-ranging mix of other related audio, video and helpful links. Her passions include getting the right audiobook into the right hands and championing young people’s right to read with their ears.
“Given the rapid growth in audio’s general popularity, and the increasing understanding that it effectively encourages the appreciation of literature in both educational and home settings, this is a terrific time for us to add Mary’s blog,” said Sue-Ellen Beauregard, media editor for
Booklist. “We’re delighted to offer so much useful audio-related information free and open to all. It is a natural tie-in with the popular media reviews and features in the magazine.”
Burkey is a National Board Certified teacher-librarian in the Olentangy School District in Columbus, Ohio. She is an editorial advisory board member and reviewer for
Booklist, writes the
Book Links audiobook column “Voices in My Head” and is the author of a forthcoming ALA Editions book on audiobooks for youth. Currently a judge for the Audio Producers Association’s Audie Awards, she has also served as chair of the ALA’s Notable Children’s Recordings and chair of the committee for the first-ever Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production (2008, co-administered by ALSC and YALSA and sponsored by
Booklist. Although Mary does occasionally take off her headphones, she listens to audiobooks on her daily commute, while walking her dog and during trips to the gym.
Access Audiobooker at
http://audiobooker.booklistonline.com
Booklist is the book review magazine of the American Library Association, considered an essential collection development and readers advisory tool by thousands of librarians for more than 100 years.
Booklist Online, launched in 2006, includes more than 120,000 reviews as well as a free Web site offering the latest news and views on books and media.
