Read Your Favorite Magazines for Free Digitally with Zinio at Stark County District Library

Did you know that Stark County District Library is More Than Books? The library recently added a great new service called Zinio that provides you free online access to an impressive list of over a hundred popular magazines on your internet-enabled tablet, mobile device, or computer. When you sign up with your library card, you’ll get complete issues (full-text, fully illustrated) of your favorite magazines digitally on your phone, tablet, or computer. There are even interactive features: all of the hyperlinks in the text and advertisements are clickable, you can share articles using your favorite social media outlets, and the text is fully searchable. Zinio has a nice interface as well—it’s clean, easy to navigate, and fairly intuitive (see figure 1).

Zinio through SCDL has some other nice benefits: there are no holds, no wait lists, and no late fees. The publications are all available as quickly as your device will download them. And, when new issues of the magazines you’ve subscribed to are published, you’ll get an email letting you know that there’s a new issue of, say, The New York Review of Books, or Guitar Player, or Martha Stewart Living—whichever titles you choose—all ready for you to read. Best of all, there’s something for everyone, with titles on Cooking, Crafts, Sports, Gaming, Home Decorating, Entertainment, Health and Fitness, News, Gardening, Lifestyles, Science and Technology, Business and Money, Automotive, Popular Culture, Computers, Photography, Parenting, Travel, Fashion, and more. Here’s a link to the full list of titles available through SCDL. If you’re like me, you’ll find it’s a great way to try out publications you have a curiosity about, but might not otherwise have access to.

It’s fairly easy to create an account. Here’s a link to the Register and Create a New Account Page for the library (figure 2). Once you’re there:

1. Click “Create Account”
2. Enter your Library Card Number beginning with 21333 and click “Validate”
3. Enter a valid email address, choose a password, and enter your name as a user name, then click “Create Account”

You’ll get an email at the address you provided from Zinio with an activation link. Click the activation link.

From there, you can log in to Stark County District Library’s collection and browse the available titles (figure 3). When you find a title you want to view, click on it and you’ll be prompted to create a separate account on Zinio’s website (figure 4), where you can actually read and manage your subscriptions (you only have to create the separate Zinio account this first time).

So, basically you have to create 2 accounts: one for the library’s entrance to Zinio, and one for Zinio itself. You can use the same user name and password for both accounts if that makes it easier to remember them in this era of multitudinous passwords and user names.

You can get more information (including links to free apps for running Zinio on a variety of devices, and a How to Use Zinio video tutorial) on the library’s Zinio information page. Library staff and Tech Training staff can also walk you through getting started if you need additional assistance. Start making the most of your internet-enabled tablet, mobile device, or computer, and try it out today!