What is Zinio?
A. Zinio allows you to download and to read many popular magazines on your computer, tablet or smartphone.
Who can use Zinio?
A.Only Larchmont cardholders can use our Zinio subscriptions. Other libraries, New Rochelle for example, may have their own Zinio subscriptions for their card holders. The Westchester Library System provides a different downloadable magazine service, Flipster. Larchmont cardholders can use that as well.
How do I get started?
A. Before you can checkout magazines you need to create a Zinio account. Go to Larchmont Public Library’s Zinio page and click on “Create new account.” A box will pop up asking for your card number. Enter your 14 digit number (with no spaces). This is the last time you will use your library card number for Zinio. You will then create a user name (usually your email) and a password. Remember these. They are the only way to access the service.
So I’ve got a Zinio account, what do I do next?
A. If you’re reading the magazines on your computer, not much. All you need to do is go to Larchmont’s Zinio page, log in, click on the magazine you want to read, click “checkout,” then start reading.
What if I want to read magazines on my tablet or smartphone?
A. To do that you need to download the Zinio for Libraries app from wherever you get your apps. Make sure you don’t download the plain old Zinio app as that is for individual paid subscriptions. You want “Zinio for Libraries.” Once that is done, you’ll use the Larchmont Public Library’s Zinio page to check out the magazines you want. Then you’ll go to the app and sign in using the same username and password you used on the Larchmont Zinio page. The magazines you checked out should now show up there ready for download.
Can I get magazines automatically, like a mail subscription?
A. No, but you can tick a box requesting notification of new issues when you check out a magazine.
Phew, that’s a lot of work. So what magazines do we get?
A. As of July, 2016 we get: The Advocate; Architectural Digest; ARTnews; The Atlantic; Better Homes and Gardens; Bicycling; Bon Appetit; Car and Driver; Cosmopolitan; Discover; Dwell; EatingWell; The Economist; Elle; ESPN the Magazine; Esquire; Family Handyman; Foreign Policy; Food Network Magazine; Glamour; Good Housekeeping; GQ; HGTV Magazine; House Beautiful; Kiplinger’s Personal Finance; Macworld; Marie Claire; Martha Stewart Living; Men’s Health; mental_floss; National Geographic Interactive; National Geographic Traveler Interactive; New York Review of Books; The New Yorker; Newsweek; O, the Oprah Magazine; OK! Magazine; Outside; Parents; PC Magazine; Poets & Writers Magazine; Popular Mchanics; Popular Science; Prevention; Reader’s Digest; Saveur; Seventeen; Shape; Smithsonian Magazine; Teen Vogue; Vanity Fair; Vogue Weight Watchers; WIRED; Women’s Health; and Yoga Journal.
So what are all those other magazines at the end of the Larchmont Public Library Zinio page?
A. Those are either free magazines or back issues of magazines we no longer subscribe to.
This is an outstanding FAQ – probably one of the best I’ve ever read. However, I still have no idea how to download magazines. What should I do?
A. You can call (834-2281 x. 3) or email Reference Librarians Liam Hegarty (whegarty@wlsmail.org) or Paul Doherty (pdoherty@wlsmail.org). They will be happy to get you started.