eMagazines to discover

For our first WCL eMagazine Club we’re exploring our Libby eMagazine collection.
With over 4,500 different publications to choose from – all free to access instantly with your Library card –  take this opportunity to dive deep into collection and find the perfect glossy to suit your interests.

Here’s some recommendations based on popular titles, to help you dip your toe into our expansive archive.

If you like the New Zealand Listener:

Overdrive cover The Big Issue
High quality, varied and entertaining content for readers across age, culture, religion, gender and other demographics. The Big Issue shares in-depth interviews with local and international celebrities, artists, change-makers and thought leaders. It also focuses on local people or organisations committed to making positive changes in society – intent on finding innovative ways to effect change. (Adapted from Overdrive description)

Overdrive cover Harper’s Magazine
HARPER’S MAGAZINE, the oldest general interest monthly in America, explores the issues that drive the US national conversation.
(Adapted from Overdrive description)

 

 

Overdrive cover The Critic
The Critic is Britain’s new monthly current affairs magazine for politics, art and literature. Dedicated to rigorous content, first rate writing and unafraid to ask the questions others won’t.
(Adapted from Overdrive description)

 

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WCL eMagazine Club!

Each month our WCL eBook Club highlights a popular eLibrary resource and gives unlimited access to read online together. This time we’re mixing it up, with Libby eMagazines as our pick!

Between 20th November – 3rd December explore our expansive Libby eMagazine collection – there’s over 4,500 titles to choose from! Featuring titles from all across the globe available in a variety of languages, there’s really something for everyone; whether you’re looking for the latest global news, inspo for a creative endeavour or movie recommendations. There’s design, architecture, chess, vintage cars, woodworking, stitching, high fashion, gardening, preserving and so much more. Dive deep into the collection and find the perfect eMagazine to fit your most niche of interests.

This is also a great time to familiarise yourself with some of the Libby app’s new user-friendly features, including the Newsstand, where you can easily find and follow your monthly favourites, and get instant updates when a new issue hits your Newsstand.

Here’s some of our staff favourites to get you going for our first WCL eMagazine Club!

Librarian’s eMagazine picks

Overdrive cover Cinema Scope

“Thoughtful reviews, essays and interviews on the world of cinema. I love dipping into this mag to find out about filmmakers that I’ve never heard of, and indie festival hits to look out for.
– Alayne

 

Overdrive cover 新建築 住宅特集 Jutakutokushu

“My favourite magazine is Jutakutokushu, a Japanese architecture and design magazine. It features home design, and especially small home design. A bit out of my budget but they look cool and the interior design is probably more appropriate for a modern household than many of the other, more popular interior design mags (too old fashioned maybe).”
-Simon

Overdrive cover Peppermint Magazine

“As a sewer I enjoy reading about other sewists and sustainability fashion trends.  I love having access to the sewing patterns too!”
– Kerry Continue reading “WCL eMagazine Club!”

Read by the Author: Entertaining Autobiographies in the Author’s Voice

One of the greatest inventions of our time is the audiobook.  Being able to listen to a book while you’re doing another task has opened up a world of reading to us in our busy lives.  Pop it on during your morning commute, or when on a roadie.  Fire up an audiobook while you’re gardening or doing chores around the house.  They’re great for keeping kids entertained on a rainy day or in the car.  I particularly love autobiographies in audiobook form when they are read by the author.  It gives the reader so much more insight into who the subject is than having the book read by someone else.

Here are some eAudiobooks available through Libby that have been read by the author that I’ve particularly enjoyed:

Overdrive cover Unprotected: a Memoir – Billy Porter,
From the incomparable Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Award winner, a powerful and revealing autobiography about race, sexuality, art, and healing. It’s easy to be yourself when who and what you are is in vogue. But growing up Black and gay in America has never been easy. Before Billy Porter was slaying red carpets and giving an iconic Emmy-winning performance in the celebrated TV show Pose; before he was the groundbreaking Tony and Grammy Award–winning star of Broadway’s Kinky Boots; and before he was an acclaimed…young boy in Pittsburgh who was seen as different, who didn’t fit in. Porter is a multitalented, multifaceted treasure at the top of his game, and Unprotected is a resonant, inspirational story of trauma and healing, shot through with his singular voice. (Adapted from Overdrive description)

Overdrive cover As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of the Princess Bride – Cary Elwes,
From actor Cary Elwes, who played the iconic role of Westley in The Princess Bride, comes the New York Times bestselling account of the making of the cult classic film filled with never-before-told stories, exclusive photographs, and interviews with costars Robin Wright, Wallace Shawn, Billy Crystal, Christopher Guest, and Mandy Patinkin, as well as author and screenwriter William Goldman, producer Norman Lear, and director Rob Reiner. (Adapted from Overdrive description)

Overdrive cover And Away… – Bob Mortimer,
Although his childhood in Middlesbrough was normal on the surface, it was tinged by the loss of his dad, and his own various misadventures (now infamous from his appearances on Would I Lie to You?), from burning down the family home to starting a short-lived punk band called Dog Dirt. As an adult, he trained as a solicitor and moved to London. Though he was doing pretty well (the South London Press once crowned him ‘The Cockroach King’ after a successful verdict), a chance encounter in a pub in the 1980s with a young comedian going by the name Vic Reeves set his life on a different track.
Warm, profound, and irrepressibly funny, And Away… is Bob’s full life story (with a few lies thrown in for good measure.) (Adapted from Overdrive description)

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OverDrive app retirement 1 May: Helpful resources

Libby will soon replace the legacy OverDrive app - Helpful resources

Libby will soon replace the legacy OverDrive app - Helpful resourcesThis is a quick reminder that from 1 May, the original OverDrive app will be discontinued and replaced with OverDrive’s Libby app. The OverDrive app was removed from app stores in February last year for new downloads.

Need help getting started with Libby? Find some resources below!

‘Getting Started with Libby’ webinar recording

On Thursday 27 April, OverDrive ran a one-hour webinar for New Zealand libraries that covered many topics to do with getting started with Libby. You can watch a video of the recording here (transcript also available):

Watch the webinar recording

PDF Getting Started Guides

Here are some handy PDFs that link to help articles and short video clips to make getting started and learning new tips and tricks easy for you:

  • Getting Started with Libby PDF - downloading the app and signing in
  • Libby Tips and Tricks PDF - get the most out of the Libby app

Further links, or get in touch!

For more information about this upcoming change, read:

Please note, the OverDrive website will remain available as this is built-in functionality for some eReader devices — just the original OverDrive app is being retired.

If you need support or would like any further information about these changes, please email us at enquiries@wcl.govt.nz

OverDrive app retirement 1 May, and Libby webinar 27 April

Register for a Zoom webinar on Libby with OverDrive

Register for a Zoom webinar on Libby with OverDriveThis is a quick reminder that from 1 May, the original OverDrive app will be discontinued and replaced with OverDrive’s Libby app. The OverDrive app was removed from app stores in February last year for new downloads.

Need help getting started with Libby? Join us for a one-hour Getting Started with Libby webinar, 10am Thursday 27 April, run by OverDrive for New Zealand libraries.

Register for the Webinar

Can’t attend the session live?

The session will be recorded and emailed to everyone registered 24 hours after the webinar. Please register to receive the recording.

From downloading the app & signing in, to searching & borrowing titles, placing holds, adjusting reading settings, and more, OverDrive’s Libby experts are here to get you started.

Please note, the OverDrive website will remain available — just the original OverDrive app is being retired.

For more information about this upcoming change, read:

If you need support or would like any further information about these changes, please email us at enquiries@wcl.govt.nz

The Drinking Game: Our April eBook Club pick!

Welcome to the WCL eBook Club, where each month we highlight a popular eBook in our digital collection and give access to an unlimited number of downloads on Libby. That means no waiting in long reserves queues- you’ll get instant access to our monthly popular pick!

Join us between April 10 – 23 as we offer unlimited downloads of the newly released non-fiction eBook The Drinking Game by RNZ investigative journalist Guyon Espiner. Espiner takes a multifaceted deep dive into why and how we drink, exposing in the process a deeply intimate self portrayal alongside a global view of the blurry lines between alcohol enjoyment and dependence. Get your copy of this fascinating read that explores Aotearoa’s intertwined and tricky relationship with alcohol, and the big business, money and power at the root of it all.

Overdrive cover The Drinking Game, Guyon Espiner (eBook)

An incisive analysis of how our drinking culture is influenced by the government, media and big business, by investigative journalist Guyon Espiner.

‘This is real, it is raw, and it lays out the truth about booze.’ – Patrick Gower
‘Thought-provoking but never preachy, Espiner blends personal experience with his formidable journalism talents as he dissects the role of booze in our lives.’ – Jack Tame

Ever wondered why it always seems like a good time for a drink? Four years ago, investigative journalist Guyon Espiner gave up drinking alcohol. He had been a heavy yet controlled drinker since his teens – abstaining three nights a week but making up for it the other four. One morning he woke up after a big night and decided he’d had enough and he quit – no AA, no support groups. Not drinking has given Guyon a new perspective on our relationship with alcohol in Aotearoa, and a lot of it is disturbing.

The Drinking Game investigates the alcohol industry: the power, politics and lobbying behind our most harmful drug. Weaving together personal experience, hard research and interviews, it examines why New Zealand has such a heavy drinking culture, the harm it causes and how our attitudes to alcohol are changing. This is a sobering look into how the way you drink is shaped not only by your individual choice, but also by government, media and big business. (Overdrive description)

Join us again next month for our new eBook Club pick! And if you’re a voracious reader don’t forget that we have an amazing selection of eBooks that are always available to read