My librarian is better than your librarian. She keeps track of my every whim and sends me the latest editions of all of the magazines and books that I want to read. There is no need for me to visit my local bricks-and-mortar building; each issue and tome appears on my metaphorical doorstep. Free of charge and in pristine condition without dog-eared pages and bent spines. She’s an ecological hipster that places more value on my time, money, and gas consumption than Al Gore. No wasting paper for her, no siree! My librarian knows that I like sports, pop culture, history, art, and Macs without any reminders whatsoever. Plus, she looks like my childhood Baywatch posters and has the wisdom of Captain Marvel (aka, S.H.A.Z.A.M.: Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury). At least that is how I imagine her to be with all of her 1s and 0s, bits and bytes, and economical wit in the right places. My current librarian is the best one I have encountered in my life, and she is entirely digital.

You may or may not agree with me. Your librarian might be better but… Do you know? Are you aware of what your local public library and librarians have to offer you in terms of digital resources? I suspect that there are quite a few individuals who do not know some very interesting and educational features that are available without charge or reoccurring monthly commitment.  Note: I believe that the human form of a librarian (media specialist) is still a very important job in schools and education. I am not a contrarian when it comes to this point.

I am going to highlight ONLY TWO of many digital resources available to patrons like myself at the local library. I am not intentionally short shrifting other offerings, nor am I placing a high personal value on magazines or Kindle titles (the “chosen” that you will read about below). I recognize that there is much to be learned from online databases as well as time saved through the convenience of digitally renewing printed books. The two that I am choosing to emphasize are ones that I had no idea existed until I poked around Asheville’s public library system. Hopefully you will search for yet-to-be-discovered digital resources in your local “book repository.” Maybe, just maybe, your librarian is better than mine.

Magazines Galore

I have spent a lot of pesos on magazine subscriptions in my lifetime. From college to present day, I would say that I have significantly contributed to the advertising revenue gathered by the publishers of Wired, Sports Illustrated, and Entertainment Weekly. Usually in fits and spurts and rarely heeding the advise of renewal circulars. No more! I now have a healthy supply of free magazines that I download and read each month.

The Buncombe County Library System in Asheville, NC subscribes to a service called Zinio for Libraries. Powered by the Zinio magazine collection, Buncombe County’s subscription provides library patrons with digital access to over 50 popular magazine titles. The collection includes The Atlantic, National Geographic, Discover, ESPN the Magazine, Macworld, Mental Floss, The New Yorker, Newsweek, and The Smithsonian to name just a few. I would venture a guess that some of these magazines are already annual purchases by your school’s media department.

Checking out and reading an issue is a three-step process for me.  First, I browse for a title and click checkout within Zinio for Libraries. Second, I open the Zinio app on my preferred device (iOS, Android, & PC/Mac). Zinio is a free application that is available to anyone with a connected device- the one catch is that the mothership tries to get you to buy magazines which I don’t do. The final step is to download the issue. When I checkout through Zinio for Libraries, voila, all of my magazine titles and selected issues appear. Relatively simple. Reading is the only thing that is left to do.

The pros definitely outweigh the cons of digital magazine subscriptions.

Ask your school and local public librarian about free digital magazine offerings. Digital titles might be one additional way to find utility and learning within a classroom set of tablets, iPads, or laptops!

Kindlepalooza

My Kindle is my lifeline during periods of boredom or long wait times in doctors’ offices. I carry it with me whenever I leave the house, ready to catch up on a few pages of a trashy novel or dense non-fiction text. This wasn’t always the case; I was one of those luddites who preferred to smell and touch the familiar qualities of a physical book. You may know someone like my former self. Once I became accustomed to the affordances and drawbacks of “going digital” when reading, I never looked back except for the occasional research article. The result was an annual expenditure summary from Amazon that equalled my grocery allotment for the year.

That was yesterday. Today I borrow most of the books that currently await opening on my Kindle Paperwhite. Not a cent paid by this young man for NY Times Bestsellers! Of this I am certain: You, like me, can do the same if you are willing to ask some questions and do some digging at your local public library. Although the process or mechanisms might be dissimilar, I find it hard to believe that you can’t begin reading digital books on your Kindle-enabled device. Note: You do not need to own a Kindle to read a digital book from your local library. Most devices offer a Kindle application. Plus, most of your library’s offerings are platform agnostic.

Similar to the steps involved with Zinio for Libraries, I follow a process that is fairly easy to replicate after doing it once or twice. It’s a little bit cumbersome but definitely doable for the neo-technophile.

That’s not too hard, right? Relative easiness aside, borrowing digital books does have its pros and cons.

Rise to the challenge of finding out if your librarian is better than mine.