Gratitude

Thank You for Free Audiobooks

An appreciation for public libraries and the Libby app

For many years, I shelved books, staffed the checkout desk, and helped with all sorts of tasks and questions when I worked for a public library.

I’m still a big fan of public libraries, and I like to share with my family, friends, and students about resources they may not realize are available with their library cards, such as online apps like Hoopla and Kanopy that let you stream movies and other content for free.

Even a library devotee like me didn’t know about the Libby app until recently. Once I downloaded it, I was hooked. Now I can listen to audiobooks for free on my phone — or anywhere I can connect my phone, like when I sync it to my Bluetooth-enabled headphones to go out for a walk, or plug it into my car stereo to make sitting in traffic much more bearable.

As a person who used “bookish” to describe myself on dating apps, you can imagine how much I enjoy carrying books everywhere and listening to them when I’m busy doing something that doesn’t allow me to read, or when my eyes are tired at night from grading papers for several hours that day, or when I want to do double-duty on bookish activities and listen to a novel while I fold my handmade zines. I mean, who doesn’t like to listen to a book and fold a few zines to relax?

How to use Libby

Libby is a free app for iPhone or Android that lets you listen to audiobooks from your local library via streaming or download. You download the app and log in with your library card number, and then you can listen to recordings from your library’s online audiobook collection. There’s also a version you can use to listen to audiobooks through your web browser.

Libby offers free access to ebooks, too. Plus, if you happen to use more than one library system that partners with Libby, you can access multiple library systems through the app.

My girlfriend and I also discovered that we could put the app with my login info on both of our phones; she’s not a regular library user but occasionally wants to listen to a book, so this is a convenient option (and her experience improved when she turned off notifications so that she didn’t have to be notified every time one of my holds for an audiobook got filled, or whenever something needed to be renewed).

Thanks to libraries and Libby

I might not have learned about Libby if my old car hadn’t given out. I was frustrated when the transmission died, but then it was a gift to have a much newer car with a stereo that would connect to my phone, something unheard of when I drove my Ford Escort ZX2 off the lot in 2001. At first I just streamed music in the new car, but then I wondered about audiobooks, and my research led me to Libby.

I’m grateful for libraries in general, but I wanted to share my special thanks for this app, particularly so that other people who might enjoy it would learn about it, too. If you’re already using it (or if you start using it after reading this), I’d love to hear about your experience with it.