One of the great things about being a librarian is the opportunity to provide information to people in a variety of formats. These days there seems to be an ever-expanding universe of possibilities. We have print books and electronic books with many choices of e-readers. Audio books can still be found on CDs and also as Playaways and mp3 downloads. Movies on DVD can still be checked out but many people are choosing some form of streaming video these days. In this article I’m going to highlight a few of the works the library has available in crossover formats.
To begin with, we have some items that are so popular we provide them in print, audio, and video. To Kill a Mockingbird has become a classic and is often taught in classes at Georgia Perimeter. The Kite Runner, which had tremendous impact, can be read, heard, and watched. We have more recent pop culture “classics” such as the Twilight series, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and the Harry Potter series in all three formats.
A favorite area of mine happens to be audio books. In a recent webinar I attended about audio books, I discovered that listening to a book while reading it promotes learning exponentially. Some populations especially benefit from this kind of interaction between text and audio, such as people learning English or those wishing to improve their reading levels. Lots of people enjoy listening to books in their cars or while doing housework. We have new works like Emma Donoghue’s Room, Kathryn Stockett’s The Help and Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks in print and audio. For exploring other times and cultures, any of these make good reading: White Tiger, Life of Pi, The Known World, and What Is the What.
Not surprisingly, we have matching books and videos to suit all tastes. 
For children, we have The Chronicles of Narnia and The Jungle Book. Cartoon fans can enjoy several Batman movies and graphic novels. Brokeback Mountain is based on a story by Annie Proulx and F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. We have lots of Shakespeare plays in print and on film—great reinforcement to watch the movie when studying a play. Then there are oldies but goodies such as Dr. Zhivago and The Manchurian Candidate.
Happy listening, reading, and watching!
Sherry Durren ~ Media Librarian, Clarkston Campus Library
I highly recommend listening to The Kite Runner narrated by the author. All of the Afghani names and words are pronounced correctly and he does a superb job.