What are you reading?!

We’ve recently refreshed the “Popular Magazines” collection on Libby. Previously this was made up of the magazines that we had on our RBdigital service, but we’ve now updated it to feature the top 150 magazines that our readers use on Libby.

So what are our reader’s top ten favourite magazines?:

1. HELLO! magazine
2.Good Housekeeping
3. New Scientist
4. BBC Good Food Magazine
5. Woman’s Weekly
6. The New Yorker
7. Radio Times
8. The Week
9. Woman
10. Woman & Home

HELLO! remains your most popular read, but perhaps a bit of a surprise appearance from The New Yorker! The Economist had also until recently featured at no.3, but has had to be removed from Libby due to the publisher’s new access rules. You can however still read The Economist on our PressReader service.

The most popular genre that people like to read is House & Garden, followed by Women’s titles and Crafts.

Interesting too, to find four foreign language titles in our top 150 –
Paris Match (French), El Jueves (Spanish), Elle France (French), L’Express (French). But theres also a rash of Scottish related titles that are really popular – Scotland Magazine, History Scotland and Homes & Interiors Scotland.

There are almost 3,000 magazines available through Libby. As well as our Popular Magazines collection you can browse through our great range of collections – Women’s & Men’s Lifestyle; Home & Garden; Arts & Crafts; Motoring; Health, Sport & Fitness; Cooking, Food & Drinks; Computing & Technology; Science & Nature; Travel & Hobbies; History & Literature and Non-English Language titles.

Lifelong learning in lockdown – quilt making

Today’s blog is written by Zoe from the Central Lending team. She tells us how she’s finding creative inspiration during this time of lockdown.

“Like many Lifelong Learning staff right now, I have a bit more time on my hands. I’ve put in a few shifts at the Hub schools, but back at home, there is only so much TV watching, baking, Spring cleaning and even reading I can do before the need for something more constructive kicks in.

I’ve always liked a hands-on project and luckily, the Library’s digital magazine services have come to my aid. Pressreader has proven to be a treasure trove of creative titles on subjects as diverse as photography, knitting, woodworking, painting and gardening.

This has inspired me to begin making a quilt by hand, from all the old child’s dresses, shirts and other scraps of fabric I have been squirrelling away for years, ‘just in case’. Quilt-making is something I would never have had the time to even contemplate under normal circumstances. But I have found it to be a very calming activity to do a little bit of each day, while listening to music or a podcast, and it’s very satisfying to see it gradually take shape. I’ve found plenty of online magazine titles on quilting and patchwork to guide me, ranging from beginner level to tackling more advanced techniques.

Zoe’s quilt takes shape

I’ve also enlisted my daughter’s help in stitching the pieces together, and that makes the whole project easier and more fun. The trade-off is that she’ll get to keep and use what will be a unique, useful and hopefully, a beautiful quilt.

If you feel similarly inspired to take up a new craft or hobby or to rediscover an old one, Pressreader and RBdigital are both well worth exploring.

And if you’d like to get involved with craft activities in a more social setting, there is an online craft group run by Edinburgh Old Town Development Trust. For those looking for a quick way to help out during the lockdown, the Trust is also looking for volunteers to help stitch face masks for key workers. If you’re interested, go to their online newsletter for more information.”

Digital Drop-ins

Need a wee hand getting started using our Library2go downloadable services? Or its been a while since you used them and you can’t remember the password? Fear not, help is at hand!  Come along to one of our digital drop-ins for friendly, easy to understand help with our downloadable ebooks, audiobooks, magazines and newspapers.

We run the following regular sessions on the Mezzanine, Central Library –

• Every Tuesday 2-3.30pm
• Most Fridays 2-4pm (this session running 27 September to 13 December 2019)
• First Thursday month 10.30am-noon

We’re also running a couple of sessions on a Saturday for those people who find it difficult to make it in during the week –

• Saturday 12 October 11am-1pm
• Saturday 12 October  1.30-3.30pm

So come armed with your tablet, phone or laptop and we’ll get you all set-up. Or just bring your questions and we’ll tell you all about our fantastic services!

Digital Magazine and Newspaper Service

From the 1 August we will be supplying your favourite magazines, and most newspapers, in digital format only.

We are doing this because we can offer you a much wider choice of titles from all over the world whilst making best use of our resources.

The online service provides an incredible choice of UK and international newspaper and magazine titles.

RBdigital provides access to quality UK magazines titles. You can read Hello!, Amateur Photographer, BBC Good Food, TV Times, The Week, Amateur Gardening, Good Housekeeping …. and lots more RBdigital Magazine Titles

PressReader provides fantastic choice from thousands of Scottish, UK and International newspapers and magazines. You can read the Daily Mail, Edinburgh Evening News, The Guardian, The Scotsman, The Herald, The Daily Telegraph ….and lots more PressReader Newspaper Titles. PressReader Magazine Titles include Grazia, Computer Active, Auto Car, The People’s Friend and The Scot’s Magazine.

You can use these services anytime, anywhere, read in the library, download to your tablet or phone or stream online.

For more information please speak to a member of staff at your local library. Full user instructions can also be found at online for magazines and newspapers.

Top ten emagazines on PressReader

We usually promote our PressReader service for access to your daily newspaper. Recently though the number of UK magazines has increased to over 300 making it an essential resource for magazines too as well as your daily news. Here’s just a wee highlight of some of the brilliant titles available.

No.1  The Scots Magazine – a celebration of all things Scottish can be downloaded each month. You’ll also find Scottish Field and No.1 Magazine (a Scottish women’s lifestyle magazine) available too.

 

 

No.2  PlayStation Official Magazine is just one of an amazing array of titles for gamers including GamesMaster, Edge, PC Gamer, Xbox, Play, Retro Gamer, 110% Gaming and Games TM.

 

 

No.3  Your Chickens is probably one of the most eclectic titles available on PressReader! We’ve included it though to show you the breadth of subjects available – there really is something for everyone! Other hobby titles include Model Rail, Canal Boat, Bird Watching, Crime Scene, practical fishkeeping and Pilot.

 

 

No.4 History Revealed is perfect if you are a history buff. You’ll never run out of things to read on PressReader as it also includes BBC History, All About History and History of War.

 

 

 

No.5  Mac Life is just one of a huge range of computing magazines covering all formats.  You’ll also find MacFormat, Linux Format, Windows 7 Help, Maximum PC, .NET, T3, iPad & iPhone User, Computer Arts, Imagine FX, Focus, 3D World, Stuff, Web User, PC Pro, Tech Adviser, Computer Active, Custom PC and Linux User & Developer.

 

No.6 Auto Express is one of the most popular titles on PressReader. It’s just one of many motoring and biking magazines available. Also choose from Car, Fast Car, Fast Bike, Mini Magazine, Land Rover Monthly, Performance Vauxhall, Evo and Classic Cars.

 

 

No.7 Simply Knitting provides brilliant patterns and ideas to fuel your knitting addiction. PressReader has a brilliant range of crafting titles including Simply Crochet, Simply Sewing, Cross Stitch Gold, The Knitter, Papercraft Inspirations, Love Patchwork & Quilting, Cross Stitcher and Mollie Makes.

 

 

No.8  The Beano is the classic of children’s comics. So whether you are a kid or just reliving your childhood you can dip in to it for free on PressReader. Other children’s titles available include Horrible Histories, Commando, Denis the Menace & Gnasher’s Epic Magazine, WWE Kids and The Week- Junior.

 

 

No.9  NME is just one of a wide range of music style magazines that you can read online. Metal Hammer, Prog, Kerrang, Classic Rock, Uncut, Guitarist, Total Guitar, Guitar Techniques, Computer Music, Q, Rhythm, Mojo and BBC Music are also available.

 

 

No. 10 Cycling Weekly keeps you bang up-to-date with the world of cycling. All things sporty can be followed on PressReader with magazines including Horse & Hound, Cycling Plus, Sport Cal, Procycling, Mountain Biking UK, Triathlon Plus, Late Tackle, FourFourTwo, Cyclist, Trial, 220Triathlon, Yachting World and World Soccer.

 

Visit our PressReader information pages today and find out how to get started with the app or website.

 

Top ten emagazines on RBdigital

If you are not using the newly up-dated RBdigital magazine service then you should really have a go! Checking out and reading emagazines is so straight forward and we’ve a fantastic range of over 100 titles. Want to know what our most popular titles are?

No.1  New Scientist is our most popular downloadable magazine by far – what a brainy bunch you are!  If science is your thing, you’ll also find Popular Science and Astronomy magazines available too.

 

 

No.2  Hello! has been the best selling feature of newsagents each week since 1988 and covers society and celebrity news. In a similar vein we’ve also got Vanity Fair UK and Tatler.

 

 

 

No.3  Auto Express is hugely popular, perhaps indicating how much our male library users like our downloadable services. If you like cars you can also get BBC Top Gear, EVO, MCN and What Car? magazines.

 

 

No.4  Amateur Photographer is available on a weekly basis and unbelievably popular with our readers. Its just one of a suite of photography magazines available on RBdigital including Aperture, Digital Camera World and Digital SLR Photography.

 

 

No.5  BBC Good Food is a feast for the eyes as well as the stomach! If its not enough to quell your desires then checkout BBC Easycook, Delicious and Olive magazines. If they have a less than desirous effect on your waistline then there’s always Weight Watchers magazine too!

 

 

No.6  Webuser is just one of the many computing and technology magazines that are available on RBdigital. Also available are .net, Android Adviser, Apple Magazine, Computer Shopper, Focus, iPad & iPhone User, Mac World, PC Gamer, PC Pro, Stuff and Wired.

 

 

No.7  Grazia brings you celebrity news with thought-provoking, real-life features and fashion.  Why not also browse through Elle, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Marie Claire and Red.

 

 

 

No.8  Good Housekeeping – a British classic and still going strong, reaching no. 8 in our most popular magazines. For more women’s classic magazines reach for Woman, Woman’s Own,Woman’s Weekly and Woman & Home.

 

 

No.9  Heat – its popularity displaying perhaps a love of gossip within our readership! For even more celebrity news check out Closer, Look, Now and OK!.

 

 

 

No. 10  TV Times finished off our top 10 and what a useful title to be able to get for free. You’ll also find the TV & Satelite Week available and if you like your screens bigger we’ve also got Empire and Total Film.

 

 

Visit our RBdigital information pages today and find out how to get started with the app or website.

Magazines galore!

Edinburgh Libraries has an amazing 500 British magazines for you to download (and thousands of international ones)!

We’ve two brilliant downloadable magazine services to choose from:

RBdigital – over 100 hand picked bestselling British magazines available on a super easy to use app or website. Download as many as you like and keep them forever.
PressReader – over 300 British and almost 3500 international magazines. Download up to 20 a day through the app or stream unlimited numbers through the website.

Use your library card to login on your tablet, smartphone or computer – there’s full instructions available on our Your Library website. You can use these services from anywhere so whilst on holiday or when your train gets suddenly delayed – you’ll never be stuck for something to read again!

 

 

Download your favourite magazines for Free

Use your library card to set up an account with Zinio, and get free digital access to more than a hundred magazine titles including Hello!, New Scientist, Grazia, Amateur Photographer, Good Housekeeping and BBC Good Food.

Zinio is really easy to set up, works brilliantly (especially on tablets) and could of course save you a fortune in magazine subscriptions. Head over to our Zinio page to see the full list of titles and find out how to get started.

Enjoy!

Five more reasons to use Zinio

Zinio our fantastic free emagazine service has got even better! We’ve added the following new titles:

Closer

Family Circle

Lonely Planet Traveller (on shortly!)

Mother and Baby

Top Sante

This brings the number of titles you can download up to 117 – including favourites such as Hello!, New Scientist, Amateur Photographer and BBC Good Food.

The full list of titles, along with instructions on how to set up your account, is on our Zinio page.

Enjoy!

Five reasons to use Zinio

If you’ve not already signed up for Zinio, our free emagazine subscription service, well, now is pretty much the ideal time to do so.

Here are five reasons why.

1. Fight the festive flab

Get fit and stay fit the whole year long with your free subscription to titles like Weight Watchers, Men’s Fitness and Women’s Fitness.

2. Get the most out of your new gadgets

If you were lucky enough to get a new i-Thing, laptop or tablet in your stocking titles like MacWorld, .net and PC Gamer will help you get the most out of it.

3. Plan your holidays

Going anywhere nice this year? Get inspired with National Geographic Traveller and Cruise International.

4. Get ready for Rio

Get in training for this summer’s World Cup with your free online subscription to World Soccer.

5. Knit!

Knitters are especially well catered for. Knitter, Knit Wear and Interweave Knits are among the magazines available on Zinio.

To find out how to get these magazines and many more downloaded free to your smartphone or tablet, head over to our Zinio page.