Audiobooks in Information Science: a systematic literature review

Abstract

Introduction: an audiobook is a sound recording of a book or any text, which you can listen to instead of reading. This medium may contain sound effects, such as music or ambient sounds, narration or synthetic voice. With technological innovations and new media, audiobooks have evolved and are currently sold in digital formats. In the context of Information Science (IS), understanding how audiobooks are organized and represented is fundamental to systematizing their retrieval. Objective: to outline an overview of the topic of audiobooks in the area of IC, with a focus on their representation and recovery. Methodology: the study characterized as descriptive and exploratory, with a qualitative and quantitative approach, carried out a Systematic Literature Review (SLR), to investigate academic production on the topic, without time limits, carried out in 2023. Results: the SLR included three analysis stages, reaching a sample of 24 documents. It was possible to identify that audiobooks are inserted in different areas of knowledge and are used in different ways, covering learning, inclusion and access to information in libraries and information centers, where their acquisition is still discussed, mainly in relation to costs. There are initiatives for textual representation, in the context of IS, however, without a specific look at the formats and environments where audiobooks are available. Conclusion: the limited number of studies that addressed the representation and retrieval of information in audiobooks in IC may signal that the topic needs to be deepened, especially with the advancement of streaming services and digital platforms.