I’m in my library era - listening to audiobooks via Libby

As a child and a teenager, I used my library endlessly, but as I’ve grown older I’ve quickly come to prefer my Kindle so I rely a lot on ebook sales to fund my reading and save my shelves from collapsing under the weight of everything I read in a year - I wish I had that kind of room!

I’ve had Libby for a while, but I’ve generally been put off because Libby in the UK doesn’t allow you to send ebooks to Kindle unlike in the US (I mean, why though?? Just…change it?) and reading from my phone gives me a headache, plus the audiobook selection from my library was rather lacking. And then I signed up to the library in the town where I work and my audiobook world exploded - the catalogue they have is incredible, and even though the waits are long, it’s worth it.

After reading Sarah’s series of how much she’s saved by using Kindle Unlimited, I was interested to figure out how much I’ve saved by using my library for audiobooks.

In 2024, I have borrowed 26 audiobooks (some I DNFed, some I didn’t get to, and a lot I read, obviously) and I have another 15 on hold (don’t judge me).

I have a 2 book per month Audible subscription which makes buying audiobooks as a member £7.99 each - the equivalent of 1 credit.

For those I’ve borrowed so far this year, I have saved £207.74; if I keep all 15 holds and borrow those, that equals a further £119.85 - totalling £327.59.

I’m rather gobsmacked. Can you imagine the savings if I was actually able to export ebooks to my Kindle like most other people who use Libby?! It would truly be a gamechanger. Who do we have to petition to make that happen?

Are you a library user? Have you delved into the world of Libby yet?

Written by Sophie