The Easton Area Public Library, Phillipsburg Free Public Library and Bethlehem Area Public Library host between 20 and 50 electronic magazine subscriptions through Zinio.
View full size "We're here for literacy. The more people we serve, the better," Easton Area Public Library spokeswoman Mary Ann Horvath, above, said of a new program that lets patrons check out periodicals electronically on anything with an Internet connection.
For The Express-Times
In an increasingly digital age, it might be easy to view a library as a relic of a bygone era, a mausoleum of yellow-edged books and outdated archives.
But several local libraries are taking significant strides to keep pace with on-demand culture by offering vast digital magazine databases to library cardholders.
The Easton Area Public Library, Phillipsburg Free Public Library and Bethlehem Area Public Library host between 20 and 50 electronic magazine subscriptions that can be viewed at the library or remotely from devices with an Internet connection.
Selections from the online databases include National Geographic, Car and Driver, Every Day with Rachel Ray, Rolling Stone and others.
The libraries use Zinio, which bills itself as “the world’s largest newsstand” with more than 5,000 different titles as a digital publishing house. Patrons can use Zinio for Libraries on their home computer or supported mobile devices, including the iPhone, iPad, Kindle Fire, Blackberry Playbook, Android, or Win 8 tablets.
“It’s pretty popular because people have mobile devices, and once you download (a periodical) you can read it in the car or in a waiting room,” said Ann DeRenzis, director of the Phillipsburg Free Public Library. “So you have nice fresh magazines instead of the dirty (magazines) at the doctor’s office.
“Not that they’re that dirty,” she added diplomatically.
Library members access the subscriptions through their library’s website, first creating accounts with Recorded Books Digital and Zinio. Library staff can help patrons register and provide e-reader tutorials. The Bethlehem library allows members to check out e-readers for a week at a time.
Since its launch of the Zinio program in mid-January, the Bethlehem library has had 60 patrons use the database, downloading 397 magazines collectively.
Zinio charges libraries based on population and circulation, which makes the program cost-prohibitive for larger libraries. The Philadelphia library system received a quote from Zinio but decided not to use the service.
The fee for the Easton Area library, whose circulation area includes the Easton Area School District, is $2,000. Libraries also pay an additional cost for individual subscriptions based upon popularity and rate of publication. Easton paid an additional $500 for an initial 32 titles, has bought eight titles and plans to buy more in July at the start of its next fiscal year.
“We’re a nonprofit; we’re here to serve the community,” Easton library spokeswoman Mary Ann Horvath said. “We’re here for literacy. The more people we serve, the better.”
As consumers demand streaming content — whether movies, music or magazines — from the comfort of their homes and phones, programs like Zinio appear destined to stay.
“The library’s walls are coming down,” DeRenzis said. “This is the way libraries are going.”