There are two major obstacles college students, or adults in general, face when trying to maintain a hobby: being able to afford its expenses and finding the time to maintain it.
I spend most of my free time reading, which can be both expensive and time consuming depending on one’s dedication and approach. Despite these challenges, I read about 20 books every month. You may be asking me, “how is that possible?” It is possible through a completely free app that I use for most of my reading.
“Libby” is the online and mobile platform for libraries across the world. As long as you have a library card for any library world-wide, you are able to access millions of free e-books and audiobooks on Libby.
To activate a card with Libby, all you have to do is put in your library card number, and then you will have access to all the media available in that library’s digital database.
If you don’t have a library card to add to your Libby account, it’s very easy nowadays to acquire a digital library card through your library’s website.
There is no limit to how many library cards you can add to your account, so if you have multiple library cards like I do (I have seven) you won’t have to pick and choose between which to use. When searching for a title, Libby will let you know which of your libraries has the shortest wait time to optimize your holds.
As a Hofstra University student, you can register for a card at four public libraries in New York State for free without fees. You can do this at Nassau Library System, New York Public Library (NYPL), Queens Public Library and Brooklyn Public Library (BPL); all you have to do is put Hofstra’s address when registering and you will receive a digital library card.
You can also find a handful of other libraries around the United States that offer free library cards, or a card that you can pay a small yearly fee for – usually around $50 or so for non-residents.
Every library card has a different number of holds and loans that you can have at a time. For example, the Nassau library card allows you to put 10 books on hold and take 10 books out, while the NYPL only allows three each. For the most part, libraries will only allow you to borrow a title for 14 days, but both the NYPL and the BPL allow you to borrow titles for 21 days.
Through Libby, you can search by title, author or other filters to find whatever you’re looking for. If owned by the library, most books will have an electronic and audio copy so that you can choose what you like best.
You can then read or listen to it directly on the app. If you have a Kindle account, you can also connect it to Libby so you can download your library books directly into your Kindle library.
I can confidently say that I would not be reading even half as much as I do now if I had not come across Libby.
Of course, I still read physical books when I can, but the app makes reading so easy to incorporate into my day-to-day life and accommodates my reading preferences perfectly.
I can listen to audiobooks while driving in my car or read e-books on my phone between classes. If you were a reader before college and want to maintain that interest, I promise you that Libby is the way to go.