Library Cards, Overdrive and Zinio

The library card is a powerful thing. Seriously. Do you know the gobs amount of money that it can save you? Not only can you check out books, but if your library doesn’t have a particular book, you can a) interlibrary loan it or b) request they purchase the book. The other day I was shocked (shocked) to discover that I had used my library card so much I had the number memorized. MEMORIZED. I don’t do numbers. The only numbers I have memorized are my cell phone number, my husband’s, my social, and the library’s phone number (the first two are ify at best and that last one is only because I was the one who had to call to renew the books growing up — it was my job.)

Most recently my friend introduced to me the fact that we can now check out ebooks on our readers with our library cards. I was floored. This was awesome. I love reading on my reader, but to tell you the honest truth, if I’m buying a book, I’d rather buy the “real thing”. Using a program called Overdrive (free app), I can now download ebooks and audiobooks on my mini and keep them for up to two weeks (just as if I was checking out a “real” book — except now if I get a wild hair to read something at 10 PM I don’t have to wait for the library to open the next day.) This got me thinking and I looked up my mother-in-law’s library and my best friend’s library — both are in the system, so this isn’t just a local-to-me thing. Be sure to go to Overdrive.com and check and see if your library offers this service (chances are they do. This town isn’t on the cutting edge of stuff, so if they have it, you probably have it).

Then I discovered that our library also offers magazines the same way using a site called Zinio. You have to sign up for an account, but that’s free and after creating an account, they will send you a $10 voucher — which basically means, if you’re smart and don’t want to spend any money, you can purchase 2-3 different magazines. They also have a service I’m highly considering where you choose three magazine subscriptions a month for 5 bucks (still trying to figure out if you get to keep those magazines or only have them for the month). Pretty cool stuff. I’m not sure if there is a way to check to see if your library offers this service directly on the Zinio website, but you should be able to ask your librarian or check on your libraries website.

And finally. Free music. Yup free. Freegal is what our library uses and for each library card you have, you get 3 free downloads a week. Again, you’ll have to check your library’s website or with a librarian to see if your library offers anything like this.

If you’re local to Fort Smith, here’s a link to the Fort Smith Public Library website. A library card is free for those living in, or owning property, in Fort Smith city limits.