Digital Media Guide
Borrowing ebooks and audiobooks, downloading podcasts, and streaming media such as movies, music, and even comic books, from Free Library has never been easier. In this guide, we'll offer tips and information to get you started or troubleshoot any issues you may be having access downloadable and streaming media and digital titles from our catalog.
Guides
- New to ebooks? Start Here
- The Simplest Way to Read ebooks: Overdrive READ
- Getting ebooks for Your Tablet, Phone, or Mobile Device (Including Apple, Android, Kindle Fire, Nook Color, and Nook HD devices)
- How to Add Library ebooks to Your Kindle
- Getting Library ebooks for Your Nook Simple Touch or Similar e-reader
- Downloading audiobooks from the Free Library
- Request This Download - Discover and Download Digital Items in our Catalog
- Streaming, Downloading, and Listening to Podcasts
Links
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Google Play
Enjoy millions of the latest Android apps, games, music, movies, TV, books, magazines, and more. -
iTunes App Store
Browse and download apps to your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch from the App Store, including the Overdrive Media Console app. -
Kindle App Store
Instant access to thousands of the most popular free and best-selling apps and games, including the Overdrive Media Console app. -
NOOK Store
Your one-stop-shop for all things NOOK.
ebook Classics by StaffPicks
Great public domain reads you can download for free.
Latest Audiobooks by FreeLibrary
Latest Audibooks added to our collections.
Electronic Resources
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American Song
Listen to over 50,000 recordings from America's past; songs by and about American Indians, miners, immigrants, slaves, children, pioneers, and cowboys; songs of Civil Rights, Prohibition, the Civil War, and more.
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Audiobooks from Overdrive
Download audiobooks from Overdrive to your PC, Mac, or mobile device. Get the Libby app to borrow on the go. Watch this short video to learn more
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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BookFlix *
A digital literacy resource, for grades preK-3, that pairs animated stories with nonfiction ebooks to build a love of reading. Includes lesson plans for teachers and tips for caregivers
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Classical Music Library
A comprehensive database of distinguished classical recordings offered in streaming format. The Classical Music Library also includes anthology playlists linked to the major music history and appreciation textbooks.
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Contemporary World Music
This resource includes contemporary and traditional world music including tracks of reggae, worldbeat, neo-traditional, world fusion, Balkanic jazz, African film, Bollywood, Arab swing and jazz, and other genres.
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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eBooks from Overdrive
Available in a variety of formats, here you will find the Library's Overdrive ebook collection. Get the Libby app to borrow on the go. Watch this short video to learn more
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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eBooks on EBSCOhost (formerly NetLibrary) *
Approximately 17,000 electronic books in all subject areas from careers to classics to Cliffs notes.
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Freading
Downloadable ebooks for Free Library of Philadelphia library card holders.
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Free Library Podcasts
The Free Library Podcast is an easy way to participate in the author events and lectures that take place at the Central Library. Visit Author Events for upcoming events and information.
Available To: Unrestricted, free web resource
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Gale eBooks (formerly Gale Virtual Reference Library)
Explore over 500 nonfiction, fully searchable reference titles. Access accurate information on science, literature, history, business, and more. Watch this video to learn more
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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HistoryMakers Digital Archive
Explore the nation's largest African American video oral history collection. Access high-quality primary source content, with fully searchable transcripts, from thousands of people from a broad range of backgrounds and experiences.
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Input
Input was a local Philadelphia panel discussion program, airing Sunday mornings from 1968 through early 1971
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Jazz Music Library
Jazz Music Library will be the largest and most comprehensive collection of jazz available online.
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Magazines on OverDrive (formerly RBdigital Magazines)
Read and download over 3,000 digital magazines on OverDrive or the Libby app.
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Music Online
Find and listen to music from a variety of genres
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Overdrive Kid's eReading Room
Download ebooks and audiobooks for readers ages 0-12. Get the Libby app to borrow on the go. Watch this short video to learn more
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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OverDrive Sala de Lectura Electrónica en Español
Descargue libros electrónicos y audiolibros en español para niños, adolescentes, y adultos. (Download ebooks and audiobooks in Spanish for kids, teens, and adults.)
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Overdrive World Languages eReading Room
Download ebooks and audiobooks in Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Russian, French, and other languages. Get the Libby app to borrow on the go. Watch this short video to learn more
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Popular Music Library
Find a wide range of popular music from around the world, including pop music, alternative, country, Christian, electronic, hip-hop, metal, punk, new age, R&B, reggae, rock, soundtracks and more.
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Smithsonian Global Sound for Libraries
With an extraordinary array of more than 35,000 individual tracks of streaming music, spoken word, and natural and human-made sounds, users can listen to performances by American folk icons such as Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Pete Seeger and many more.
Available To: All Free Library locations and online with your library card.
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Upcoming Events
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Art Book Club online: Cut Paper - week 6
This informal group meets in a video-free private chat and image-sharing forum with a librarian from the Free… more details
Tue, September 28, 2021 5:00 PM
Parkway Central Library
1901 Vine Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
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Blog Posts
Author Events Fall 2021 Schedule
While—for now—the realities of the ongoing pandemic keep us from gathering in the Parkway Central Library’s Montgomery Auditorium for a new season of Author Events , this month we’re bringing you a host of…
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Author Events Celebrates Pride Month
June is Pride Month and the Free Library’s Author Events series has an extensive archive of podcasts and videos to help you celebrate a diverse range of writers working in politics, fiction, health and fitness, literary fiction,…
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LGBTQ+ Middle Grade and YA ebooks and Audiobooks
Here are five ebook and audiobook titles about identity, acceptance, love, and loss to consider this month as we celebrate those journeys with our friends, families, and ourselves. King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callander…
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Kanopy and Hoopla Access Ends June 30, 2021
Effective June 30, 2021, we will no longer be offering Kanopy and Hoopla services to our patrons. Instead, the Free Library will use the funding for those subscriptions to support our collections of physical materials in neighborhood…
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Philly Jazz Legends: Lee Morgan
This is the seventh in a series of posts highlighting major figures in jazz history who were from Philly (even if most ended up in New York City). A virtual book discussion of Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American…
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Greens Across Tables
Thank you to Nourishing Literacy (NL) team member Carolyn for writing this blog post! In addition to sharing her experience and findings, Carolyn has included some of the activities and approaches that we use in NL. The NL team enjoys…
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Spring has Sprung with New Upcoming Author Events!
Spring has sprung, and so has the Free Library’s Author Events calendar! Our events are, of course, still virtual, so you can enjoy our diverse array of authors from the comfort of wherever you’re social distancing. Most are…
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Introducing OverDrive Magazines!
In August, we announced big changes on the horizon now that OverDrive has acquired the RBdigital platform. If you remember, RBdigital audiobooks moved to our OverDrive platform. Now comes the second and final change: RBdigital magazines…
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Memories of the Golden Age of Hip Hop
I bomb atomically, Socrates’ philosophies and hypotheses Can’t define how I be dropping these mockeries Lyrically perform armed robbery - "Triumph (feat. Cappadonna)" by Wu-Tang Clan, 1997 I am a rap fan.…
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Black Authors and Voices: Podcasts from the Author Events Archive
To commemorate and celebrate the scope of Black History Month, you can jump into our Author Events podcast archive , which dates back almost 25 years! There you’ll find an astonishing wealth of Black voices, perspectives, and…
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Digital Media Spotlight | The Muppets
2021 marks 45 years since The Muppet Show debuted on television and today Disney+ is bringing back all 120 episodes streaming on-demand! As Kermit the Frog would say—arms flailing— "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!" The Muppets…
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Introducing the HistoryMakers Digital Archive!
What do Guion Bluford , Angela Davis , Hank Aaron , Maya Angelou , Katherine G. Johnson , Eartha Kitt , Sonny Rollins , Gordon Parks , Ntozake Shange , and E. Lynn Harris all have in common? They are phenomenal Black people who have…
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There’s Always Something New to Discover at the Free Library!
The first Saturday of February is Take Your Child to the Library Day! This holiday , invented by two librarians, encourages families to make a trip to their neighborhood library with their young learners leading the way. As an added…
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Art Book Club Online
The Art Department is now hosting a virtual book and art-making club and we're excited to kick off our next topic! Art Book Club Online: Picturing Information starts Tuesday, February 2, meeting 5:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m. on Tuesdays…
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Squash Across Tables
Thank you to Nourishing Literacy (NL) team member Carolyn for writing this blog post! In addition to sharing her experience and findings, Carolyn has included some of the activities and approaches that we use in NL. The Nourishing…
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Newest Additions to the National Film Registry
Seen any good movies lately? If you've exhausted watching everything on your streaming media platforms of choice, take a look at the National Film Registry 's yearly recommendations and selections to be preserved in the Library…
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Story Search from Special Collections: An Interview by Hannah Cho
Hannah Cho is a University of Pennsylvania Work-Study student from Davis, CA. During the Fall semester, she studied, recorded, and edited the Story Search podcasts remotely from South Korea. I’ve always been more of a talker…
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What Philadelphia Read in 2020
The longest year ever is coming to a close. (Amen.) That means that it’s time to peruse some Best of 2020 book lists! Across the web you can find tons of these kinds of lists. Two of my favorites are Book Riot’s Best Books…
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This Is The Way... to Mandalorian and Star Wars Reads
Space western adventures! Out of this world creatures! And one cute green baby (Yoda)! We're talking about The Mandalorian , the latest installment in the ever-expanding Star Wars universe of characters and stories. The season 2…
