Listen To Your Library
By Judith Basisty, Centre for Reading and the Arts, Stanley A. Milner Library

I’d like to introduce you to a corner of the library that may be unknown to some but greatly appreciated by its regular users. This area is the Spoken Arts and Spoken Instructional collection.

Books on tape have become the ever increasing popular choice for people on the go. This area offers a huge selection and a wide variety of choices.

The Spoken Arts section includes comedy, drama, history, poetry, prose - both fiction and nonfiction - radio nostalgia, religion and Shakespearean works. Most often these plays are narrated by well-known actors/ actresses or a full ensemble. The history collection is a diverse group ranging from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar of basketball fame and his work on a native reserve, to Noam Chomsky and his views on social issues, Shirley MacLain with her views on spiritualism and Grace Slick and her rock and roll memoirs. Check out the newest audio releases in the mystery selections or adventure thrillers. You'll also find interviews and a vast selection of sound effects in this area.

The Spoken Instructional area is divided into categories to simplify your search. The business section includes all aspects of work-related situations as well as personal finances with people like Suze Orman and Robert Kiyosaki of the Rich Dads series. Improving your English language skills, health and learning a new language or musical instrument can all be found here. So you can brush up on your grammar, or learn that new language that you’ve always wanted to, while you’re commuting to work. There’s even a Karaoke section for anyone who wants to sing along with the greats.

You can hear advice from the experts on all relationship issues. Listen to Dr. Laura Schlessinger or Philip McGraw, of Oprah fame, talk about personal relationships. There’s practical advice on parenting for all ages as well as relationships with our parents. Well-known authors such as Barbara De Angelis and Wayne Dyer talk about self-actualization while John Gray presents all the Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus series.

On health issues you can find everyone from Deepak Chopra to Christiane Northrup to Dean Ornish to Andrew Weil. Most of your health concerns can be answered here.

A huge section called miscellaneous is an audio miscellany of choices. You can listen to motivational speakers like Anthony Robbins, all the Chicken Soup courses and self-help information that include assessing your goals, organizing your life and even finding the meaning of your life.

So if you’re planning a road trip or just like to have something interesting to listen to in your car or Walkman, you should explore this corner of the library.

Or pay a visit online
  • go www.epl.ca
  • select ‘format’ in the top right hand corner
  • select ‘books on tape’
  • choose a genre
  • or type a search word or a title

You’ll be able to access everything we have as a book on tape.

Enjoy!