VGCC Library Services: Audiobooks: Home

What are audiobooks?

Audiobooks allow readers to enjoy books with their ears. One or more professional narrators or voice actors are recorded reading a book out loud. Previously called "books on tape" or "books on CD," most audiobooks are now in a digital format. And yes, your library does have digital audiobooks for you to check out and listen to completely free!

Reasons to listen to audiobooks:

Keep yourself (and others) entertained on frequent commutes or long road trips without having to deal with radio commercials or static.
Read while cleaning or exercising, and if you are really enjoying the book, there's your motivation to keep going.
Makes books accessible to those with vision loss or other print disabilities.
Reading and listening at the same time can help with focus or comprehension.
Enjoy books you've read before in a new way.

Audiobook tutorials

Dogwood Digital Library is a collection of ebooks and audiobooks for VGCC and other community colleges in North Carolina. You can access Dogwood Digital by using the Libby app on your smartphone or tablet or any web browser on a computer.

Click the links below to learn how to access books using the Libby app.

VGCC also offers a collection of audiobooks (and ebooks) through Hoopla on the app or Hoopla website. Before using Hoopla, you need to have registered for a library card at the the VGCC library and have your library card number available.

If you are new to Hoopla, follow the instructions in the tutorial below to find and listen to audiobooks in Hoopla.

Hoopla Tutorial: Access Hoopla and Find Audiobooks

O'Reilly for Education is a large collection of ebooks, audiobooks, and other materials focusing on computer science, information technology, and business topics. It is a great resource for those studying for IT certification exams.

O'Reilly includes over 2,500 digital audiobooks available for immediate listening through any web browser. View the video below to learn how to access audiobooks in O'Reilly for Education.

O'Reilly for Education: Sign In and Find Audiobooks

Digital Audiobook platforms from VGCC Library Services

VGCC Library Services has multiple platforms that include digital audiobooks.

Dogwood Digital Library (Overdrive) This link opens in a new window
Free online library that lets you borrow ebooks, audiobooks, and magazines anytime, anywhere. Read and listen to books and magazines using the Libby app. Some titles are available to read on Kindle.
Hoopla This link opens in a new window
(Formerly available as RBdigital) Downloadable audio and ebooks on a variety of topics, including language learning, history, biography, classic literature, and more. App is available for download. When registering for a Hoopla account, please use your VGCC email address. For more information about using Hoopla please contact library@vgcc.edu or use the library chat box.
O'Reilly for Higher Education This link opens in a new window
O’Reilly for Higher Education includes more than 38,000 book titles and more than 30,000 hours of video on topics ranging from programming to IT networking to project management to graphic design to business strategy. Available content includes code snippets, certification preparation materials, practice exercises, training videos, and much more.

Text-to-Speech

Text-to-speech allows a computer to take written digital information and translate it into an audio format that can be heard and understood by a person. The audio is produced by a computer, rather than a human narrator. Some online resources will include a text-to-speech option for those with print or vision disabilities.

These resources include a text-to-speech option for some, if not all, of their content.

Academic OneFile (Gale) This link opens in a new window
Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
Gale Virtual Reference Library (Gale Ebooks) This link opens in a new window