Overview
Brisbane City Council's public libraries are some of the many venues currently closed during southeast Queensland's current lockdown. That doesn't mean that you can't spend your time at home reading as many books as possible, however. Thankfully, Brisbanites are able to access the libraries' hefty collection of digital items — not only including books, but music, magazines and movies as well.
As part of that collection, more than 70,000 ebooks and audiobooks are currently on offer. The likes of Trent Dalton's All Our Shimmering Skies, Craig Silvey's Honeybee, Zadie Smith's Swing Time and Sally Rooney's Normal People are available to read online or download for a limited period for free, as are titles in the Harry Potter and Game of Thrones series. The list goes on, of course — and to start digitally skimming through their pages, all you need to do is sign up for a free digital library membership on the Brisbane City Council libraries website, or use your existing library membership.
For those who prefer to have a good book read to them, rather than flick through it themselves, library members can also access a heap of audiobooks — which you can either listen to online or download to your own device.
Elsewhere on the library's website, you'll find music, magazines, newspapers and journals, as well more than free movies via streaming service Beamafilm. And, if you're still looking for something to do, you can also learn a language, with your library card getting you free access to Mango Languages.
Wondering what everyone else has been flicking through? In 2020–21, BCC's digital library experienced more than 2.8 million loans and downloads, with popular ebooks spanning everything from Trent Dalton's Boy Swallows Universe and Michelle Obama's Becoming to Jane Harper's The Survivors and Mark Manson's The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck. Among the audiobooks, hearing Stephen Fry read the Harry Potter series and Reese Witherspoon read Harper Lee's Go Set a Watchman also had plenty of fans.
Sign up to become a Brisbane City Council libraries member online and explore its digital collection.
This article was originally published in April of 2020. It has been updated to reflect new information.