Flipster accesses mags for library users

MADISON COUNTY – Huntsville-Madison County Public Library recently has acquired a subscription to Flipster, a service that offers digital magazines for browsing and download.

“No more subscription fees, no more unwanted paper waste, no more hastily reading articles in the grocery store checkout line. Library patrons can now access their favorite digital magazines,” Director of Public Relations Laura McPhail said.

“We have subscribed to 23 popular and niche magazines and are offering these magazines as another free resource for the public,” McPhail said.

“From ‘Entertainment Weekly’ to ‘Ebony,’ ‘Popular Science’ to ‘Highlights’ children’s magazine, we have something for everyone.”

Patrons also can look forward to covers like “Entertainment Weekly,” “Field & Stream,” “Vogue,” “Ebony,” “Beer Connoisseur” and more. “Patrons have the option of accessing the content at the library or remotely. Magazines can be downloaded to Android phones and tablets, Apple phones and tablets and Kindle Fire tablets for offline reading anytime, anywhere,” McPhail said.

“We are so pleased to add this to our growing list of free services offered to the public,” Patsy Ducote Wilson said. Wilson is branch manager of Bailey Cove Branch Library and Flipster project lead.

“We’ll still have print copies of plenty of magazines, but Flipster allows us to offer even more magazine titles in a format that is accessible even when the library is not open,” Wilson said.

Flipster allows users to browse magazines by category or perform searches for specific periodicals. “An online newsstand provides a carousel of the most recent issues. Another carousel of all available back issues gives quick access,” McPhail said.

The table of contents contains links for quick access to articles of interest. Hotlines within magazines have hyperlinks to open in separate tabs. In addition, an option to zoom in and out provides better readability.

The library system has other digital resources, including e-books, e-audio books, databases, music, movies, archives and obituaries.

Huntsville-Madison County Public Library is a nonprofit 12-branch system that serves all of Madison County.

For more information, call 256-970-6266 or visit hmcpl.org or huntsvillelibraryfoundation.org, Facebook/HMCPL or Twitter @HMCPL.