TLN RBdigital Magazines Renewal: May 1, 2018 Through April 30, 2019
For White Pine Library Cooperative Members
RBdigital Magazines service for the period May 1, 2018 through April 30, 2019.
Please let Bryon Sitler (bsitler@wplc.org) by Wednesday February 28, 2018 so he can let Jim Flury, TLN, know if your library plans to discontinue participation with the RB Digital (formerly Zinio) magazine collection.
Also, if you wish to join the TLN RBDigital consortium, let Bryon know by the same date.
White Pine will continue to subsidize the cost this year @ $200 per participating WPLC member library. Contact Bryon Sitler for the pricing information
- If you wish to renew your library’s current subscription to the TLN RBdigital Magazines service for the period May 1, 2018 through April 30, 2019 you need do nothing. Your library will be automatically renewed.
- If you DO NOT wish to renew your library’s current subscription to the TLN RBdigital Magazines service for the period May 1, 2018 through April 30, 2019, please let Bryon know by February 28, 2018. Your service will end April 30, 2018.
- If you would like to begin a NEW subscription to the TLN RBdigital Magazines service, either at group renewal time beginning May 1, 2018 or earlier on a pro-rated basis (your pro-rated subscription would end April 30, 2018 and then renew), please let Bryon know.
Currently a total of 94 libraries (95 when TLN’s Clawson Blair Memorial Library goes live March 1, 2018) from four library cooperatives (The Library Network, Mideastern Michigan Library Cooperative, White Pine Library Cooperative, Woodlands Library Cooperative) are subscribers to the TLN RBdigital Magazines https://www.rbdigital.com/thelibrarynetworkmi/service/magazines/landing? service.
Your cost for the TLN RBdigital Magazines Service for the period May 1, 2018 through April 30, 2019 will be 5% higher than for the current period May 1, 2017 through April 30, 2018. If you need to know the current and/or future cost for your library, please email Jim Flurry/TLN at jflury@tln.lib.mi.us.
Total checkouts for TLN RBdigital Magazines for the period January 1, 2017 through December 31, 2017 were 222,282. Detailed statistics for RBdigital Magazines are always available at this link: http://tln.lib.mi.us/zinio/ The 222,282 number is very, very close to the total dollar number that participating libraries paid for the service. The $1.00 per average checkout is in line with established parameters.
See the LIST OF CURRENTLY ACTIVE TITLES. We pay for 175 active titles. Due to the constantly changing nature of the print magazine publishing business, the “real” number of active titles in our collection fluctuates throughout the year between 175 and 180. Regardless, TLN has kept the total at, or sometimes slightly above, our paid-for-minimum of 175. When titles cease publication or cut ties with Recorded Books during the year, a replacement (or titles) is added accordingly. Thus, there is a more or less constant “refresh” of our active title collection taking place throughout the course of our subscription year. All back issues of all titles stay in our collection. The total number of titles in our collection (this total includes titles that have ceased publication, as well as those that were single issue titles) is 297.
On the “what’s new” front, two things:
- The old Zinio app is scheduled to be retired February 11, 2018. That date has been moved back a couple of times already. You will be kept informed of the status of this project as February 11 nears.
- At some point during 2018, date tbd, our RBdigital Magazines website will be redesigned. The final product will look like this http://rbdigital.rbdigital.com/ but without eBooks and Audiobooks, unless your library is also a subscriber to those Recorded Books services.
THANK YOU to all of our participating RBdigital Magazines subscribing libraries. Your cooperation and hard work has made this statewide project a great success!
If you haven’t already seen the CNET article from August, 2017. Feel free to share it with your funding and governing authorities, too.
https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-check-out-free-digital-magazines-from-your-library/