According to a consumer survey, 74 percent of audiobook consumers listen in their car. Residents know what traffic can be like around the county and, though the library cannot do much about that, we can certainly help on the audiobook front.

RBdigital Unlimited

On May 1, Fairfax County Public Library introduced RBdigital Unlimited—its new instant access eAudiobook collection. This acquisition includes more than 28,000 always available, no waiting eAudiobooks for readers of all ages. You can find the new titles mixed in with all the other material available from RBdigital.

Last year, Fairfax County readers checked out more than 1.7 million eBooks/eAudiobooks from the library. Readers also placed over 790,000 holds for digital copies. The library recognized waiting for eAudiobooks was a growing pain point and continued to look for ways to add to the collection while staying within the system’s budget for materials.

Enter RBdigital Unlimited. This new offering provides instant access to eAudiobooks—no holds, no waiting. This acquisition is made up entirely of eAudiobooks from five publishers (Recorded Books, Tantor Media, Christian Audio, Gildan Media, and HighBridge Audio) and are twelve months old or more. So, while waiting on hold for a library eAudiobook released last week, you can find something of interest available right now.

Sample titles from the new collection include:

• An American Marriage (Tayari Jones),
• The Overstory (Richard Powers, 2019 Pulitzer),
• Outlander (Diana Gabaldon),
• Night (Elie Wiesel),
• Prey / Lucas Davenport series (John Sandford),
• Alex Rider series (Anthony Horowitz),
• As well as many titles by authors like Garrison Keillor, Harry Turtledove, Walter Dean Meyers, Mercedes Lackey, Meg Cabot, Avi, Beverly Jenkins, Joanne Fluke, and so many others.

The library works with multiple vendors for books and audiobooks, both print and digital. Many Fairfax County Public Library card holders are already familiar with OverDrive, and RBdigital is another digital vendor. Content in the RBdigital app comes from both the Library of Virginia and selections by Fairfax County library staff. It includes eMagazines, digital Great Courses, eBooks, eAudiobooks, and now also the instant access eAudiobooks.

See all 28,000 newly added eAudiobooks on the RBdigital app, and start enjoying wait-free reading today!