How to Read Magazines Free With Libby

Libby is the official app of OverDrive, the leading public-library digital-lending service, and it’s been a staple of digital library catalogs for years.

For users with a valid library card, the Libby magazine experience is mostly immediate and issue-oriented, with readers often able to open the latest issue of a magazine directly and start reading from the cover, browsing through on their device. It’s an increasingly common addition to today’s library-card apps.

Getting into Libby

To get reading, a couple of setup steps are needed. In a quick start guide, Libby explains how the user opens Libby, is prompted to follow a few steps, so they can find their local library in the app and add their library card to the app. The app also points out that some libraries offer instant digital cards in Libby, so the user can start browsing immediately, without a longer-route in-person or online library signup.

It’s a library-by-library feature, though, so if the app does not offer that instant enrollment option, Libby explains to the user how to visit the local library’s website or a branch location for help signing up. The app also tells the reader that if they have trouble at any stage, and especially when adding a library card, they can contact the library via in-app messages at get in touch or at ask your library for help. Reaching out to the library staff by using these support calls can help resolve issues.

How magazines work differently from ebooks

Libby magazines often work with no waitlist, and users can add magazine issues and subscribe or follow them in their accounts, grabbing the latest covers in an organized scrolling library of their choice.

Magazine readers can open a magazine issue with one tap of Open Magazine. Special features let the user tap on a specific article in the issue to really zero in, reading that chosen article by itself within the full issue, with a navigation bar allowing the reader to go back and forth between the highlighted contents and the issue as a whole. Libby fades from the foreground, so readers can survey the full screen without interruption.

When the reader closes the magazine they were reading, Libby immediately gives the option to subscribe, so the reader is notified about new releases, and the magazine stays on the Shelf’s Magazine Rack. Each magazine can be kept there for 7 days after that first open. The Rack itself serves as a centralized location where readers can tap a cover to start reading or tap the Newsstand to browse a longer list of available magazines and choose where to start.

Keeping and saving issues

But what if the reader wants to save that issue beyond the 7-day period?

Libby makes this easy too. In a separate detailed guide, the app clearly explains that after the reader hits that 7-day limit, they can go to the Magazine Rack, tap on the title, and if the issue still has less than 7 days left, they can simply tap “Keep” to extend the subscription by another 7 days. Readers can use this method to extend access to their favorite titles. This method is also used in the digital-audiobook world.

Issues are also kept in the device in the Libby app, but if someone wants to read the issue offline, even when they’ve kept it, they must manually make sure the issue has been downloaded to the device in the app, as Libby does not automatically download. On the other hand, if the user downloads the magazine in the app, that means offline reading. The quick reminder to do this is a nice touch, especially for readers planning to catch up during long airplane flights, cruise trips, or extended travel on any express lines without Wi-Fi.

Finding new issues

Shelving a magazine in Libby is not just a quick read but a way of following a title. That’s because Libby’s magazine flow is issue-based, at least on first glance. Each magazine issue is added to the user’s Magazine Rack, and can be renewed at the 7-day mark.

Readers follow a title for new issues, keeping it on their Library Shelf in the Magazine Rack. Some of these tiles will be “new” to the account but left in the Rack for the full extended period, while others will be “new” for the full 7-day block and then need to be tapped to keep them again or unsubscribed from. Tools like Keep and Subscribe are similar, according to Libby help pages.

If the library page looks empty

Power users with puzzling empty library cards will need to stroll back to the branch, or maybe give another local branch a look. Libby says in their quick-start guide that if adding the library card doesn’t work, the user should contact the library or ask for in-person support to set up their card. The app also points readers with support needs to the get in touch or ask your library options for easier access.

What readers can do on the move

Readers who want to catch up with their magazines during their commutes or during some downtime at their satellite offices will like that Libby lets them download magazine issues to their device, for offline reading even when the issue is kept in their account. Tables and smartphones will fare better in accessing Libby than e-readers at this stage, but magazine readers can try out the app on all three to get a feel for their experience.