The Toronto Public Library (TPL) has added hundreds of new eMagazines to its collection thanks to a new partnership with popular digital magazine platform
Zinio.
The Zinio partnership means that any Toronto library card holder now has access to over 300 current digital magazines including National Geographic, The Economist and Rolling Stone. All they have to do is make two new accounts: a Zinio account through the Toronto Public Library website and an account on Zinio itself (using the same email address).
While back titles of magazines are not available, there are few other restrictions. Every magazine in the Zinio catalog is free, there is no limit to the amount of titles a user can access, and there's never anything to return.
"E-magazines are extremely popular and we are happy to meet customer demand for new digital content available anywhere and anytime on our users' favourite devices," says Vickery Bowles, director of collections management & city-wide services at Toronto Public Library. "We recognize the important role libraries play in making digital content more accessible to everyone. With just a library card, customers can download full-colour e-magazines with interactive elements such as audio and video."
In order to help get users signed up and acquainted with the new system, the Library is hosting a Zinio demonstration this Sunday at the
Word on The Street literary festival in Queen's Park. TPL has also released helpful primer on the new system (available
here) and, throughout the fall, district libraries will host digital kiosks installed to demonstrate how e-magazines work.
Writer: Katia Snukal
Source: Toronto Public Library