When the Toronto Public Library (TPL) teamed up with Zinio, a service that allows readers to download popular magazines to their tablet, Smartphone or computer for free with their library card, 20,600 library users signed up.

No longer just a brick and mortar institution, the TPL ’s initial foray into the digital magazine world in July 2013 has been a successful one. Ana-Maria Critchley, manager of stakeholder relations for the TPL said the interest has been overwhelmingly positive.

“If you look back at 2013, we had a 96 per cent increase in digital circulation,” she said. “So that’s eBooks, eAudio books and eMagazines. It’s growing very quickly and we want to be able to meet the demand with good availability.”

Initially that availability decreased slightly when Rogers Media removed their publications from the service, however Critchley said the Meredith Corporation has made some of their eMagazines available to Zinio for library. Allrecipes, Better Homes and Gardens and Fitness can all be found on the website.

Going forward the TPL is looking to make some changes to better service their readers.

“I think bigger picture what’s next is just looking at more multilingual content for our customers because we know that there is a big demand and obviously the Toronto population is very diverse,” Critchley said. “Also the lending model we’re seeing is changing for some of the titles. So perhaps going from unlimited downloads, to 2500 downloads for the newest issue and 2500 for the second issue and then unlimited downloads for the backlist.”

TPL staff will be demonstrating Zinio at the Luminato Literary Picnic and the Annex Festival next month.