LibAnswers

It is certainly possible to read e-books in your browser on your laptop or desktop computer. There are also other apps that you can use to read and/or listen to books.

One easy way you can do this in your browser is from NYPL's "Checkouts" page in the library's main catalog, Vega:
https://borrow.nypl.org

There are a few ways to get to your checkouts page, including going to our homepage (https://www.nypl.org), clicking on "My Account" at top, clicking on "Go to the Catalog", and then entering your card number/username and PIN/password to log in.

Once logged in, if you click on your name on the right side of the catalog screen, you will see a link to go to your "Checkouts" - this leads to your "Bookshelf".

On the right side of your Checkouts list, for any e-books or e-audiobooks you have borrowed there's a small drop down arrow button to the right of the "Return Item" button.

Click on the down arrow and you should see a "Get item" option.

Click that, and you'll see one of two options.

First, if the e-book/e-audiobook is distributed by OverDrive, you'll see the page open with a few options, including "Read now in browser" or "Listen now in browser". Select that, and a new window will open with the text of the book shown (or a play option for audiobooks).

The other, less common option, is if the e-item is distributed by cloudLibrary, a new tab or window from cloudLibrary will open, and you can use the "Login" button at top right to log in with your NYPL credentials. Once that's been done, you can go to "My Books" and open the book and read or listen to it.

Other options to read in your browser include OverDrive's Web site (https://nypl.overdrive/com) and cloudLibrary's Web site (https://ebook.yourcloudlibrary.com/library/nypl/Featured).

OverDrive has the Libby app: https://meet.libbyapp.com/   or   https://help.libbyapp.com/en-us/6103.htm

Here's a Web page with information about the cloudLibrary app: https://ebook.yourcloudlibrary.com/library/nypl/Featured

Enjoy!