If you are bilingual or want to read online materials in other languages besides English, did you know that you can get eBooks and online Magazines for free through the Boston Public Library?
If you live, work, or study in Massachusetts, you are eligible for a BPL eCard, and you can sign up for one online. With this eCard you can access all of Boston Public Library's online resources, including foreign language materials.
eBooks and Audiobooks:
To access eBooks or audiobooks from Boston Public Library, click here for the BPL eBook Catalog. Under the Boston Public Library logo, the last column on the right is where you will see links to the different language collections (see photo above.) To download the books, sign in with your BPL eCard number and PIN.
In addition to English, Boston's Digital Catalog has eBooks and audiobooks in the following languages:
- Chinese
- Dutch
- French
- German
- Korean
- Latin
- Portuguese
- Romanian
- Russian
- Spanish
- Swedish
If you are already familiar with Overdrive, the download process is the same as borrowing eBooks from the Minuteman Digital Catalog we use at FPL (which is separate.) If you are brand new to eBook downloading, have a look at the extremely useful Overdrive Help Site, which contains instructions tailored to your device.
And if you'd like print books instead, don't forget to stop by the library to see our foreign language materials. We have book collections for Spanish, Chinese, Portuguese, Russian, and more.
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| Russian eBooks |
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| Portuguese eBooks |
Online Magazines:
To access eMagazines, click here for the BPL Zinio Collection (Digital Magazines.) You will need to enter your BPL eCard and PIN.After entering your card details, you will be taken to a page where you will see the magazines available for borrowing. In the upper right corner of the page, if you click on "All Languages," you will be able to choose the language you would like.
- Chinese
- Portuguese
- Spanish
- Vietnamese
To read an online magazine, you will need a Zinio account. Click "Create New Account" and follow the prompts so that you will be able to sign-in.
If you already have a Zinio account with us in Framingham, you don't need to create a new account; instead, you can log-in with your FPL details. There are lots of English and non-English titles to choose from- more than what we have in our Framingham collection.
If you'd like to read foreign magazines in print- stop by the library! We have a good number of languages available.
Movies:
Both Boston Library and Framingham Library have foreign films available online through Hoopla. Both of our collections are the exact same- so you can access Hoopla either through Boston or Framingham by signing up at www.hoopladigital.com. BPL users get 10 checkouts a month; FPL users get 5. (Yes, if you sign up and register for two accounts, one with your Framingham card number and one with your Boston card number, you will have 15 checkouts a month.)Hoopla has a foreign film section which you can view here. Languages available include Spanish, Italian, Mandarin, Cantonese, Portuguese, French, Serbian, Greek, Hungarian, Hindi, German, Czech, Turkish, Hebrew, Russian, Dutch, Japanese, and more.
Besides online, we also have a large collection of films on DVD that you can checkout from the library. We have Russian, Portuguese, Hebrew, Chinese, Spanish, and more.
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| Spanish eBooks |
Get started now! Sign up for a Boston Public Library eCard here: https://www.bpl.org/general/circulation/ecards.htm.
