National Library Board eResources: How to get over $1,000 worth of free stuff from the mobile app

“Free!”

A word that’s like magic to our senses.

I experienced this magic when I found out that I could have free access to top magazines and newspapers such as Bloomberg Businessweek and The Washington Post.

Well, I could easily save more than US$330 (S$444) for a year’s subscription to the two publications.

Would you like to know how you can get free access too?

And possibly save even more?

Let me show you how via the National Library Board (NLB) mobile app.

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post. We just like to share what we know freely so that you can benefit from it too!

TL;DR: What’s so great about the NLB’s mobile app? A guide to tapping into NLB’s eResources

I’m glad you asked.

I had the same thought too.

Until I found out the great things that the app provides users with…

On top of the regular stuff like borrowing physical items using your mobile device and searching for both online and physical resources to borrow.

The NLB mobile app comes allows you to:

• Read eBooks and listen to audiobooks
• Access eMagazines and eNewspapers (both local and international)
• Attend online courses.

For instance, through the NLB mobile app, you have access to over 7,000 eNewspapers and eMagazines from local and international publishers.

The publications come from over 100 countries.

If you are a knowledge junkie, the app will become your companion in no time!

And the best part is, they are all free!

Here’s a flavour of the international papers and magazines that are available on the NLB mobile app (through PressReader):

And more. Note: the list is not exhaustive.

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And here’s a selection of the local publications available:

International magazines available on NLB mobile app
Female
Women's Weekly
Singapore Tatler
The Edge Singapore

And more. Note: the list is not exhaustive.

Also, here is an illustration of how much the content is worth:

Subscription	Annual Subscription Cost	Details
Bloomberg Businessweek (Asia)	$391.40	Annual Digital subscription with unlimited digital access on Bloomberg.com and the Bloomberg app
The Washington Post	$135 Actual non-promo price after 1 year	All Access Digital: Unlimited access on the web and in their apps
The Straits Times	$118.80 Actual non-promo price after 1 year	ST One Digital annual subscription
Udemy Buisness	$485.80	Team Subscription per user per year (5-20 users)
Total Cost	$1,131	—

NLB login: What’s available on the NLB mobile app

Before you can use any of the functions, you have to:

1) Own a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet with an internet connection

2) Have an NLB myLibrary ID and

3) Download and sign in to the NLB mobile app

NLB eBooks and NLB audiobooks from the NLB catalogue

Through the NLB Mobile app, you can access over 800,000 titles, be it in eBook or audio book format.

To access this function, you have to:

1. Sign in to the NLB Mobile app using your myLibrary ID.

2. Once you’ve signed in, click on the “Search” icon at the top.

3. Search for the book you wish to read in the search box.

4. Click on the title of the book you wish to loan.

5. Click on “Borrow” and “Yes, borrow item” when prompted to borrow the eBook.

6. You can choose to read it online or download it.

If you wish to download it, you will be prompted to download the Libby app and log in using your NLB myLibrary ID.

7. Viola! The eBook is at your disposal for 21 days.

You can borrow up to 16 eBooks and audio books.

NLB OverDrive support

Suppose your eReader does not support the NLB app. In that case, you can always download the OverDrive app and add NLB to browse, borrow, and enjoy titles from the National Library Board Singapore digital collection.

eMagazines (local and international) and international eNewspapers

The NLB Mobile app lets you pour through more than 7,000 leading publications from over 100 countries.

To access this function, you have to:

1. Sign in to the NLB Mobile app using your myLibrary ID.

2. Click on the “eNewspapers & eMagazines” icon.

2. You will then be prompted to download the PressReader app, an international digital newsstand.

3. Once you download the app, you can get complimentary access to local and international publications.

The complimentary access is for an hour only.

However, once the hour is up, you can re-launch PressReader from the NLB Mobile app to get free access again.

Local eNewspapers

On top of international eNewspapers, you can access six local newspapers through the NLB Mobile app.

The local papers available are:

Local newspapers available on NLB mobile app
Berita Harian
Lianhe Zaobao
Shin Min Daily News
Tamil Murasu
The Straits Times
The Business Times

To access this function, you have to:

1. Sign in to the NLB mobile app using your myLibrary ID.

2. Click on the “ SPH Newspapers” icon.

3. You will then be directed to another page for free access to the local newspapers.

4. From there, you can choose the title of the newspaper you want to read.

5. Enjoy the paper with your morning coffee!

Udemy Business online courses

For all you course junkies out there, the NLB Mobile app provides over 6,500 courses covering topics like data science to leadership skills via Udemy Business.

To access this function, you have to:

1. Sign in to the NLB mobile app using your myLibrary ID.

2. Click on the “more” icon.

3. A new window will pop up, and you have to click on “Udemy Business” under “Learn”.

3. You will then be directed to the service:

4. Once you have logged in, you can access the thousands of courses available on Udemy Business. The service is available on iOS, Android or your laptop and desktop.

How much can you possibly save from using the NLB mobile app?

Considering that you can gain tons of content from eNewspapers to online courses, this app is really valuable.

Let’s check out how much those subscriptions available via the NLB mobile app would cost if you were to subscribe individually to the respective content.

We will be assuming an individual subscribes to the following:

• One eMagazine (Bloomberg Businessweek)
• One international eNewspaper (The Washington Post)
• One local eNewspaper (The Straits Times)
• Udemy Business.

We are also taking the basic packages available for customers.

Subscription	Annual subscription cost	Details
Bloomberg Businessweek (Asia)	$391.40	Annual Digital subscription with unlimited digital access on Bloomberg.com and the Bloomberg app
The Washington Post	$135 Actual non-promo price after one year	All Access Digital: Unlimited access on the web and in their apps
The Straits Times	$118.80 Actual non-promo price after one year	ST One Digital annual subscription
Udemy Buisness	$485.80	Team Subscription per user per year (5-20 users)
Total Cost	$1,131	—

In all, the subscriptions cost about $1,131 a year.

Users are likely to access more than the subscriptions shown above, given there is a multitude of content available via the NLB mobile app.

So, that’s a massive deal of content available in our pocket for a grand total of $0!

That’s your taxpayer dollars at work right there.

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This article was first published in Seedly.