Council announces £20k boost to eLibrary service for members

SHEFFIELD City Council is pleased to announce that the eLibrary service has been given a £20,000 boost.

This online resource, available to every Sheffield Library member, is accessible on any digital platform and is free of charge to use.

Cabinet member for Culture, Parks and Leisure at Sheffield City Council, Councillor Mary Lea, said:

“I am thrilled with the boost in spending on the eLibrary service at Sheffield Libraries. £20k will go a long way in building up the already excellent online service for the city. The spend could not have come at a better time with our libraries temporarily closed due to the pandemic, access to reading materials has been difficult.

“With this free online resource, we encourage all library members and welcome new library members, to look at accessing the books and reading materials they usually enjoy in paper form, in a brand new way.

“With audio books and other new reading materials such as many popular e-magazine as well as a huge selection of children’s books and young adult titles for teens, we believe there will be something for everyone to enjoy from the comfort of their own homes.

“We hope this helps to highlight this fantastic resource to everyone and allows us to promote a different route for people to access the books they love. We hope it will attract many more people from across the city to become a library member online.”

Step by step on how to access the FREE eLibrary:

Sheffield Libraries subscribes to a digital platform called RBdigital – It is a simple to use app for your Phone, Tablet or Computer, and can give you access to a variety of library services. These include Magazines, ebooks, audiobooks and comics.

It is completely free and available to all our library members.

To access RBdigital content simply follow these steps:

1. Download the RBdigital app to your device

2. Open the RBdigital app and create an account using your library member number

3. Once logged in, go to the Home Page

4. Select you desired content type

5. Search for what you want to access, or look at the ‘Most Popular’ options

6. Tap CHECKOUT

7. If you wish to use office, tap DOWNLOAD.

How to become a Sheffield Library member:

If you don’t have a Sheffield Library card, you can join online at www.sheffield. gov.uk/home/libraries-archives/join-the-library

We will aim to reply as soon as possible with your library card number.