Got big travel plans this summer? We’ve got plenty of e-resources to keep you entertained–by land, air, or sea! If you have a laptop, tablet, or smartphone, check out the downloadables the Library offers! From your window seat or the comfort of your own armchair, you can enjoy books, music, magazines and more–all you need is a screen and a library card to pack these essentials.
All of the following digital materials and resources are available on our website via eBooks & Downloadables or Databases.
eBooks, eAudiobooks & Videos
Hey, we are a library — so we naturally have to talk about the books first, right? If you haven’t tried our eBooks or eAudiobooks yet, or if you think they’re not for you, travel is a great reason to give them a shot. eBooks weigh as much as the phone or tablet you read them on, and you can pack in dozens of titles that would take up too much precious real estate in your suitcase…PPL offers 2 different “flavors” of eBooks, and you can check out up to 10 per, so that’s 20 library books you can bring along to Fiji, or Iceland, or wherever you roam, and you never have to worry about overdue fines or returning eBooks. Happy eReading!
OverDrive: You can download the OverDrive app, locate the Pasadena/Glendale Public Libraries and sign in with your library card number and PIN. You can browse, check-out, download and read in the app. OverDrive carries eBooks, eAudiobooks, and videos, including for adults and kids. They also carry many Kindle titles, so if you use Kindle or the Kindle app, you can check out titles in that format. They also offer EPub format for eBooks. Books and audio check out for 3 weeks (21 days), and videos for one week (7 days). (PPL offers Spanish- and Chinese-language eBooks in addition to English.)
Cloud Library/3M: Download the Cloud Library (by bibliotheca) app to get started browsing, checking out, downloading and reading. Cloud Library carries eBooks and now eAudiobooks, as well (no Kindle titles). Cloud Library titles check out for 3 weeks (21 days).
Comics & Graphic Novels
Are you a fan of sequential art? Find digital copies of hundreds of titles for all ages in ComicsPlus Library Edition, including John Lewis’s March trilogy, Book 3 of which won the National Book Award. Once you have created your account, you can instantly check out and read your selections–no holds or waiting, ever. Choose from fiction, nonfiction, science fiction, fantasy, digital manga, and many other categories. See you in the funny papers!
Music
Freegal — so named because the music you download –to keep!– is “free and legal.” Once you have set up your account, you have up to 3 music downloads per week to keep (they won’t expire, you never have to “return” them). Music videos are also available to download and keep, in MP4 format (each video counts as 2 of your 3 downloads per week). The available content includes thousands of artist, tens of thousands of albums, and millions of songs. You can browse music genres, or search by artist/album/song to find just the right tune. Create your music library and enjoy your travel soundtrack. Happy listening!
Digital Magazines
You are no longer limited to the airline magazine or rushng to the airport newsstand at the last minute–you can find current and back issues of many titles to check out and read in digital form in 2 ways through the library. Happy browsing!
Zinio — Find anything from “A: (Adweek) to, well, “Y” (Yoga Journal) here, including some Spanish-, Chinese-, and Vietnamese-language magazines, and titles for kids as well as adults. Create an account (via our website link to Zinio) on their site, then browse and check out magazines to open and read in a browser or in the Zinio app. No limit on the number of magazines you can check out, and no time limits, either. Magaine page spreads can be printed.
Flipster — The Library’s subscription to Flipster has a smaller collection of titles, but this is the place to go for digital issues (current and a couple years of back issues) of Consumer Reports, the gold standard in consumer evaluations. (Along with many other great magazines, like Rolling Stone and Mental Floss, to name just two.) You can print “pages in view” and “all pages” of a magazine. Once you have created an account on their site (via the Pasadena Public Library link) and downloaded the Flipster app, you can browse and check out titles directly in the app.
Language Learning
Want to pick up some useful phrases before you arrive at your destination? The Library offers two resources that offer courses in many languages. Happy speaking!
Mango Languages — Mango offers courses in 72 languages, including English for English-language learners. The Library’s subscription includes Mango Premiere, which offers foreign language films to watch so you can practice your “Konnichiwa” and your “Bon Soir, mon amour” in a plot-driven context! If you just want to have some fun or are heading out onto the high seas under the old skull ‘n’ crossbones, Mango offers “Pirate” language as well; summer is the perfect time to prep for September’s annual “Talk Like a Pirate Day.”
Rosetta Stone Library Solution — Our patrons have asked us often in the past if we carried the ever-popular Rosetta Stone langugage-learning sets–well, now there is a version for libraries, and we’ve got it! Level-1 courses in 30 languages are available here.
Of course, the real-world versions of all these things are as close as your nearest PPL location, including books, audiobooks, magazines, DVDs and CDs. Any way you like it, happy travels!