It's a favorite topic around here, but I thought it might be helpful to collect the various ways you can find out if your local library (or libraries) offers downloadable audiobooks and ebooks. For most of these services, you only need to visit your library once to get a library card and then you can download audiobooks and ebooks from anywhere (home, work, while on vacation, and so forth). (Of course, there are a ton of other reasons to visit your library more than once, but I'll save that for another time.)
It isn't always easy to find out if your library offers downloadable audiobooks and ebooks. Sometimes it is as easy as poking around on the library's website, but sadly, not all library websites are fun or easy to navigate. Therefore, you might want to turn directly to the most popular sources of downloadable audiobooks and ebooks for libraries to see if your library (or libraries) participate:
- OverDrive
- use this Locate Library tool
- Hoopla Digital
- start registering for an account to get to their list of searchable participating libraries (you can always invent a dummy email address)
- RBdigital
- unfortunately, there's no way to search directly, so you can just try a search for the name of your library and RBdigital
- cloudLibrary
- use this Find Your Library tool right at the top of the page
As another option, if you (or a close friend or family member) can meet the eligibility requirements (being blind or having a visual or physical disability that prevents reading print materials), you can consider The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. You'll need to find your local network library and contact them to arrange access. They have a number of downloadable audiobooks, some volunteer-produced and some commercially-produced.
Finally, one more alternative to consider is purchasing a non-resident library card for a library that has downloadable audiobooks and ebooks you want to use. Non-resident library cards are usually not that expensive and will pay for themselves after just a few uses. You'll just need to contact the library you are interested in getting a non-resident library card from to see how much an annual subscription costs and what you need in order to apply.
March 21, 2019 at 11:28AM
