Round Four of Listen Up! Vermont

Hello all,

We’re gearing up for signups for Round Four of Listen Up! Vermont, the downloadable audio book service from the Green Mountain Library Consortium provided by OverDrive.

Round Four begins July 1 for staff training and access, with public access available on or about August 1. You can look at the current collection at http://www.listenupvermont.org; let us know if you would like to try and download a title, and we will send you a library card number.

The cost for Listen Up! comes in two parts. One part is a ONE TIME $300 administrative fee, payable to OverDrive. You will only pay this fee once, at the time of signup. The second part is your annual GMLC fee, which is based upon your total materials budget (books, periodicals, reference, audio/visual). The fee is 3% of your total materials budget provided that budget is below $50,000, and 2.5% of your budget is above $50,000.

The GMLC membership year runs from January to December; membership fees are not pro-rated. The next opportunity to join is in Round Five, in January 2010, at the start of the next membership year. In Round Five, the administrative fee rises from $300 to $400.

The Listen Up! Vermont collection currently consists of 825 titles, with titles added by our five-member selection committee each month. Our goal is to have more than 1,000 titles available by the end of 2009. Even with your administrative fee, it is likely that you are paying less — maybe far less — than $1 per title for access for your patrons — quite a deal!

Beginning mid-June, all of the titles in the collection will be iPod compatible to patrons who use their iPod with a Windows PC. iPod users with Macs have access to nearly 200 mp3-formatted titles. All of the titles are compatible with other Windows-based mp3 players, such as the Creative Zen Stone.

Public libraries may like to consider also participating in our Recorded Books downloadable audio book project. The cost to participate through the end of the membership year is 1.5% of your total materials budget (or 1.25% if the budget is over $50,000). For example, if your materials budget is $10,000, you could offer your patrons access to nearly 3,000 audio book titles for only $750!

Please let me know if you have any further questions about Listen Up! Vermont or Recorded Books. If you are interested, we must know by June 12, 2009. When confirming your interest in participating, we will need your population, annual circulation, mailing address, technical contact (if it is not you), your library’s federal tax ID number, and your total materials budget.

If you previously expressed interest in participating, you should have received a separate email at the email address you provided.

Have a great weekend!


Stephanie Chase
Director, Stowe Free Library
President, Green Mountain Library Consortium Board of Directors