LADY’S LIBRIVOX

Go directly to our LibriVox pages:
vol. 1 [COMPLETE!]
vol. 2 [sign up to read a section!]

By Kelly Plante

Here is students’, scholars’, and enthusiasts’ chance to gain experience as an audiobook narrator (!) and participate in a public humanities project to increase the accessibility and public awareness of this important text in the history of women’s writing.

Starting June 25, 2022, we are working with the volunteers at LibriVox.org to make the Lady’s Museum accessible in audiobook form. We are starting with volume 1 of 2, and volume 2 will follow. Brandeis University has funded an internship for poet and PhD student Jenny Factor to work with us to record the Trifler essays in volume 1.

The sign-up sheet is now live on LibriVox’s volunteer forum, and sections and articles are up for grabs! Contact us now if you are interested in recording, or having your students record, an audiobook portion of the Lady’s Museum. We will block off your section(s) of choice and support you and your students as you record, edit, and submit your audio files for publication to LibriVox and the Lady’s Museum Project websites this fall.

You can sign yourself and/or your class up for a series (such as, say, Philosophy for the Ladies, the Lady’s Geography, or the History of Harriot and Sophia) or single article (such as, say, the History of Bianca Capello) of the Lady’s Museum volume 1.

NOTE: The Trifler, “Of the Studies Proper for Women,” are already spoken for. Brandeis University has generously funded support for recording the Trifler for our project. We are piloting volume 1 first, so volume 2 articles are not available—yet—to sign up for. However, depending on interest, we may launch volume 2 sign-up this fall as well.

Contact us via a DM Twitter, email the.ladys.museum at gmail dot com, or directly sign up on the LibriVox forum to block off your series or articles of choice. Follow us on Twitter to receive updates.

The Lady’s Librivox is a side project of the Lady’s Museum Project that supports our overall mission to make the Lady’s Museum accessible to public and non-scholarly audiences. Audiobooks improve accessibility for students who have various learning needs and styles. We are committed to supporting students and public audiences with multiple modes for experiencing eighteenth-century texts. Further, we are committed to the professional development of—and fun learning activities for—enthusiasts of history, journalism, magazines/periodicals, literature, and early/proto feminism.

LibriVox audiobooks are created for the Public Domain. For more information and the philosophy and rationale behind this choice, see Librivox’s explanation on their Copyright, Public Domain & LibriVox page.

Once the LibriVox recordings are published, we will in turn link to them from this site so that all students, scholars and eighteenth-century magazine enthusiasts can listen as a complement to the “traditional” linear and non-linear reading experiences offered on this site.

Use the “Criticial Introductions to the Lady’s Museum” as an assignment and professionalization opportunity in your college/university classroom

For a sample assignment description to use in your class, if you are planning on teaching the Lady’s Museum using our site and would like students to have professionalization experience of publishing a critical introduction on our suggested or Lady’s Museum-related topics, you may use the following description, written by Kelly Plante, as a template for your class assignment. 

This assignment is suggested for intermediate to advanced undergraduate students and graduate students. (Kelly has taught a similar assignment, but for wikihow rather than LibriVox, at the 3000 level, at Wayne State Unviersity.)

Lady’s Librivox Assignment

Introduction/Rationale

The audiobook is a writing genre that is becoming more popular in the publishing world as a companion to traditional books and magazines. Even newspapers such as the New York Times publish daily audiobook forms of the “paper.” In this assignment, you will participate in a public audiobook recording project by recording a reading of Charlotte Lennox’s the Lady’s Museum (1760-61) for publication to LibriVox.org and LadysMuseum.com. You will learn how to set up the hardware, record, edit your recording, and how to submit it via the LibriVox project workflow.

You will contribute an audiobook chapter desired on the LibriVox community forum, learn the conventions of audiobook recordings for public domain, and meet the standards for publication. After you identify your chosen article, you will plan and record an approximately 1,500-2,500 word recording, submit it, then work with your proof-listener (PL) on LibriVox for final edits required for publication. We are aiming for full publication, which meets LibriVox’s guidelines and policies. The review and approval process usually happens within 48-72 hours, at which point you will receive a notification on your LibriVox forum page. If the recording needs edits and is not yet approved, students can request help from their proof listener or book coordinator on the forum page.

Assignment Prompt

On the LibriVox “Readers Wanted” forum, you will create your LibriVox user account then follow the steps to reply to the “Readers Wanted” post, looking in the Magic Window to see what chapters are available for sign-up. Once the book coordinator (BC) approves your request to read the section, you will begin recording (using Audacity and your computer’s built-in or standalone microphone) following the steps outlined in the LibriVox Newbie Guide to Recording (linked to in Supporting Materials below). Then, you will post your MP3 file via those same instructions. Within 48-72 hours, you should receive edits from your proof-listener. You will then have 2 weeks to edit your file using Audacity and upload the revised file.

Minimum Requirements

One approximately 15-20 minute MP3 recording meeting LibriVox’s technical proof-listening standards for publication.

Supporting Materials

Required Hardware/Software

  • Computer with microphone (built-in or standalone)
  • Audacity (free) to record and edit audio
  • User account on LibriVox.org (free) to sign up for and turn in readings of sections
  • LibriVox’s free Checker app to test sound

Learning Objective

You will be able to produce an audiobook recording for a public audience.

Calendar

  • Day 1 – select your article to read, form into groups if applicable; read your text out-loud and time yourself reading it
  • Day 2 – set up your recording environment; read and familiarize yourself with LibriVox’s policies, forum, wiki, and required format for turn-in to their workflow
  • Day 3 – dry-run recording; final recording
  • Day 4 – receive proof listening required edits
  • Day 5 – edit your file; upload new file to LibriVox