Thousands of new books are being made available to Liverpool residents – and you don’t need to brave the cold weather to get them!
The city council is investing more than £370k in re-launching and expanding its e-library service with more than 6,000 e-books available to be downloaded for free. And more titles are being added to the collection every week.
As well as books, the new service, called Read Liverpool, sees shelf-loads of e-magazines available ranging from the Economist and Home and Garden right through to Classic Rock, Total Film and Marie Claire. On top of this, there’s a huge range of audiobooks, reference books and a dedicated children’s and teens area along with a newspaper archive section.
The current 60,000 library members will benefit from the upgraded service, with more than 3,000 members already regularly using the existing e-library service. And for anyone interested in becoming a member, it’s easier and quicker than ever to join – residents can sign up 24hours a day and it’s just a case of filling in a few details online.
The library team is encouraging everyone in the city to become a library member so they can make the most of the ebooks on offer. To help residents with queries or to set up devices so the e-library can be easily accessed, one-to-ones will be available on Friday 10th, and 13th to 15th January from 10am to 3pm in Central Library. Booking is not necessary.
Liverpool City Council’s Assistant Mayor and Cabinet Member responsible for libraries, Councillor Wendy Simon, said: “Liverpool City Council was one of the first local authorities in the UK to introduce an e-library service in 2009 and since that time we’ve seen the popularity of e-books increase year on year.
“Reading habits have changed dramatically, and people want to be able to access books quickly and easily, 24 hours a day.
“Millions of people will have bought or received a tablet over Christmas, and our own figures in the city show that e-readers and tablets are hugely popular. It makes sense for us to invest in this service and respond to the demand that is out there.
“The ability to give everyone their own mobile library is a high priority. 2014 marks Liverpool’s Year of Reading and we want to do everything we can to encourage families across the city to regularly get into the literary habit.”
Eight books can be downloaded at any one time and they will expire after 21 days.
Compatible devices include ipads, iphones, KindleFire range, PCs, Macs, Android Phones, Android tablets and well known e-readers such as Kobo, Nook and Sony.
To access the city council’s e-library and to find out more, visit www.readliverpool.co.uk.
