If you love reading being a member of a library is the way to go but in the 21st century there an app called BorrowBox that makes it possible to borrow e-books and audio books from your local library.
The app is free to download for iOS (iPhone, iPad), Apple Watch and Android smartphones and tablets.
The first step is to download the app to your device and sign in to the app with your library ID and activate your digital library membership.
All that’s required is an email address, your library’s barcode and a PIN number. Your local library can help get these things together.
And like a real library with physical books, members have access to the books that are there.
The app makes it possible to browse the e-books and audiobooks available from your local library.
You can search by author, title, genre and series.
Being digital doesn’t mean there are limitless copies of the same e-book or audiobook.
If you’re waiting on a book you can reserve it when it’s returned.
Similarly if you need more time to complete the book you can apply for an extension on your loan.
Users can browse the books they’d like to read and add then to your reading list.
The BorrowBox app syncs in the cloud which means you can read or listen to the same book on multiple devices.
The app also has accessibility features that uses a special font to make it more readable for dyslexic users.
You can also adjust the playback speed of an audiobook so you can hear it at your own pace.
BorrowBox also works with Apple’s VoiceOver functionality on the iPhone so users can hear a description of each on-screen element.
It’s also possible to adjust the font size of your e-book to allow you to read without glasses or just to fit more words on the same page.
If you don’t want to read an e-book on a smartphone or tablet, it’s also possible to transfer a borrowed e-book to an e-reader that can read the epub format like the Kobo.
Amazon’s Kindle e-readers are not compatible.
BorrowBox is available now to download for free from the App Store or the Google Play Store.
