Public library: boom in readers for the online ebook

A week ago the Municipal Libraries of Varese, closed in accordance with the measures on coronavirus, had relaunched their ebook service.

And in seven days there has already been a record for the service: 385 logins recorded since last Tuesday, as many as they usually do in a month. The March total is at 585, with 181 unique users compared to 50 on average until February and 300 ebooks on loan (70 the previous average).

The number of titles available online has also increased, doubled from five thousand to ten thousand and to which the “open” collection not covered by copyright must be added.

“Culture,” comments Mayor Davide Galimberti, “is certainly one of our strong points in these difficult days. We stay at home, but with a good book in our hands. And if we finish it, our libraries make thousands of them available. Also in this field our commitment is clear: nobody is left alone”.

Among the services implemented this week are remote sign-ups for all new users. To request activation, simply write an email to biblioteca@comune.varese.it, indicating your name and surname, date of birth, tax code and email address.

At the same email address you can contact them to report any problems on the MediaLibraryOnLine platform or to report further books to buy. In the last seven days, there are many citizens of Varese who have registered.

For those who have registered in the last five years on the municipal library system, the service had already been activated. To enter the borrowing system, you only have to connect to the MLOL platform, which has a page dedicated to the Palazzo Estense.

People who are registered will have to use their tax code as username and their date of birth as password, with days, months and years separated with a slash (example: 17/11/1993). Once you have entered it will be possible to change your password.

The e-book borrowing service is active both for the Public Library in Via Sacco, and for the Biblioteca dei Ragazzi in Biumo Inferiore and for that in San Fermo.  You can download up to 6 titles per month (intended as a solar month); each link is valid for 15 days.

The MLOL platform allows ebooks to be read in epub format, so it is not possible to download books to Kindle devices. Further technical information is available in the online FAQ.