Free Magazines on Your Phone (from Libby)

Libby Library App

I used to love reading magazines. When I was a teenager, The Source Magazine was pretty much required reading. It was a great way to find out about rap music releases and artists. I even used the pictures to wallpaper my basement studio. It was great.

Over the years I have enjoyed a number of magazines. As a child, getting an issue of Highlights in the mail was a highlight of my week (sorry, couldn’t resist).

More recently, I have got into reading The Writer and Writer’s Digest. I’ve bought a few of those titles over the years, but nothing beats reading them for free at the public library.

In fact, I have only read a handful of magazines in the past few years for a number of reasons. Obviously, Covid-19 restrictions have kept me from visiting a library branch in over a year. I’ve gotten curbside pickup of books and DVDs, but in-library issues of magazines was not included in this service. There was a way to get the issues for free digitally, but it was not a very user-friendly experience. Until now.

Libby is an amazing app that lets you download ebooks, audiobooks, and now magazines to your phone or tablet.

I was really surprised to see this pop up when I opened the app last week.

I did a quick search and found one of my favourite titles.

When you open the magazine on your phone, you see the entire page.

It’s hard to read articles like that though because of how they are often formatted in columns. Fortunately, the Libby app corrects that problem for us. By clicking on “read the article” you get the article opening up in an easy to read single column file. This is the final paragraph of the opening article of this issue of The Writer. 

I have the night mode as the default setting for using this app. It gives you a black screen with white text and is perfect for reading while trying to get a baby down to sleep (new parent tip).

There are three years worth of back issues of this magazine available. I’ve also read the latest edition of Rolling Stone and Billboard magazines.

I love that I can easily read magazines again. And best of all, it is completely free with my library card.