Sometimes we aren’t in the mood for complexity, and we want to read something quickly from start to finish. We want to read about birds or knitting or cooking or sports – something entertaining that isn’t all that much brain work. We want, in other words, a magazine.
Since at times the library moves faster than we do with how to easily access what we want, it’s time to take a look at how we download magazines now.
First, make sure you have the following: 1) Your new library card. All of them now begin with 2-8323-0000 and then your old library card five-digit number. You need to use the new fourteen digit card. 2) Your four-digit password for your new card. The old password you used doesn’t automatically migrate to your new card. Just stop in or call and any librarian can enter your chosen password in the system. 3) The Libby App. Download the Libby App on your phone or tablet or – as I have – both. With your library card number and your passcode, you can now set up your Libby app. If you had a Libby app when you had your old library card, just enter your new information into it.
FYI, the Libby app is the fastest, easiest way to download e-books as part of the White Pine Collective with whom we share our digital collection. When I looked at Libby, it indicated that there are, at this moment, 3,451 magazines available for immediate download. That is beyond fabulous. But how do we know that we are downloading something we would like to read or at least read part of?
I went to the menu and chose “Home and Garden” as a general subject and “English” because I’d like to be able to read it and not just look at pictures. This took me from 3,451 magazines to 196. I started scrolling and settled on further exploration of a magazine called Backyard Decks, Pergolas & Patios. I had choices to tag this magazine so I could find it later, read a sample of it, or borrow it for fourteen days right now. I chose to read a sample.
The sample is generous. I got sixteen gorgeous full color pages. Magazines actually look better on one’s phone or tablet than they do on paper. Sure, they don’t smell (for better or worse) but they really look good, and we can zoom in, for example, to see things even better.
I could also read the entire table of contents giving me further indications whether I wanted to download this, as well as a general summary about the magazine.
And that’s how we go from 3,451 magazines to one. Even if all I wanted to read was a single article or to browse pictures for ideas, that’s good enough. We don’t have to “get our money’s worth” from a magazine because we aren’t spending any money. Just this much of a glance at the sample showed me a decorative bamboo fence that one could use in a small area in place of or in addition to other landscaping to provide some privacy. (Note: This isn’t fencing in one’s yard so dog owners shouldn’t get excited, but truly a landscaping choice.) I can take screen shots of it and file the idea away in case one day this seems like a good idea.
All of this just wouldn’t have happened with a few paper magazines hanging out collecting dust (metaphorically) on our library shelves. And when the magazine is due, it will return itself.
That’s how we get magazines now. Check them out!
See you at the Library!