The Toronto Public Library has pumped out a lot of neat digital collections and services over the years. There’s ebooks, databases, loopholes in newspaper paywalls, free wifi, to name a few. TPL has now added unlimited access to digital magazines through Zinio to the list. That means, if you’re a Toronto Public Library card holder, more than 300 titles are available to download for free on your computer, tablet and smartphone, including:
[Update: Some titles will no longer be available through this service, while others now offer back issues. I’ve updated the list accordingly.]
Azure, Billboard Magazine, Canadian Living, Conde Nast Traveller UK, Cosmopolitan, Discover, The Economist, Elle, Esquire, Harper’s Bazaar, Home & Gardens, MacWorld, Men’s Health, O: The Oprah Magazine, OK! Magazine, National Geographic, Nylon, Popular Science, Popular Photography, Reader’s Digest, Rolling Stone, Saveur, Us Weekly, The Walrus and many more.
Access to the collection is via the TPL portal, where an account needs to be set up with your library card. As well, you will have to register an account with Zinio and download the reader app. When you “check out” a title, the current issue is added to your Zinio magazine library, which you can read wherever and whenever you want. Unlike the ebooks lending program, there’s no wait lists or returns. The magazines stay in your Zinio account until you delete them.
Toronto isn’t the first city to offer this service to the public. Hamilton and Ottawa currently have digital magazine access with Zinio. Other libraries are rumoured to be rolling it out, too.