Dakota County library card: Ticket to free magazine downloads
Dakota County library card holders can download magazines onto any web-connected device for free and never worry about returning it.
“We’re the first (library) system in the state to have it,” said Farmington Library Manager Mary Scheide in reference to Zinio, a service that allows library card holders to browse about 150 magazines available free for download through the Dakota County library system.
Farmington Library Manager Mary Scheide reviews a list of magazines she downloaded for free onto an iPad using a new service available to Dakota County library card holders. photo by Laura Adelmann
Sheide had downloaded National Geographic and was browsing through stunning photographs on an iPad. “Look at the quality,” she said. “You see it exactly as it appears in print.”
To use the service, users create a library account to select magazines and a Zinio.com account to view them with their current Dakota County or South St. Paul library card.
Once downloaded, users can keep the magazine stored on their device and never incur a late fee.
“You can download it to your device, get offline and read it later, depending on the device you have,” Scheide said.
Multiple people can download magazines at once, so, unlike e-books through the library system, users do not have to wait for a copy to be returned to download and read it.
Titles include Consumer Reports, Country Living, Newsweek, Men’s Health, Rolling Stone, Good Housekeeping, Family Handyman, Every Day with Rachael Ray, Martha Stewart and Weight Watchers.
For more information or to set up an account, go to Dakota County’s website, www.dakota.co.dakota.mn.us.
