NYC Libraries Open “Subway Library” in Underground Stations, Six-Week Promotion Now Underway

New today!

From NYPL:

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), Transit Wireless and three New York library systems – The New York Public Library, The Brooklyn Public Library and The Queens Library – today announced the launch of “Subway Library,” a special, six-week long joint promotion providing customers with access to hundreds of free e-books, e-shorts, as well as extensive excerpts from full-length books, to enjoy during their summer commute.

Starting today, MTA customers in underground subway stations can connect to the free TransitWirelessWiFi through their network settings, and click on the SubwayLibrary.com prompt to start reading.

The Subway Library site – which allows readers to browse and download content in a variety of curated categories – was developed by The New York Public Library using the same technology it utilized to create SimplyE, it’s free e-book reader app.

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Publisher Involvement

The Subway Library gives subway riders the opportunity to read e-books and short stories from The New York Public Library’s permanent collection, as well as excerpts made available through the generosity of publishers including Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, Penguin Random House, Plympton, and Simon & Schuster.

Subway Library builds on the MTA’s successful August 2016 promotion with founding partner Penguin Random House, which gave subway customers the opportunity to read free short stories and novel and non-fiction book excerpts from a wide range of Penguin Random House titles.

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Subway Library Categories and Titles

The New York Public Library, Brooklyn Public Library, and Queens Library will offer access to e-books, excerpts of e-books, and short stories in different categories through the MTA’s free Transit Wireless Wi-Fi. E-Books, excerpts of e-books and e-short stories will include titles in the following categories:

New York Stories, including excerpts from titles such as Soar by David Banks and At Balthazar by Reggie Nadelson

New & Noteworthy, which offers excerpts of recently released titles, including Swing Time by Zadie Smith and Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

Select Shorts, which includes The Soul Is Not A Smithy by David Foster Wallace and The Graveless Doll of Eric Mutis by Karen Russell

Children, with titles including Bayou Magic by Jewell Parker Rhodes and Who Could That Be at This Hour? by Lemony Snicket

Young Adult, with excerpts and titles such as Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli and The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas.

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Hop Aboard the “Library Train” and Win Prizes

As part of the Subway Library campaign, Transit Wireless has launched a specially wrapped “library train,” with an interior wrapped to look like the Rose Main Reading Room inside the 42nd Street branch of The New York Public Library. The train will alternate running on both the 6 Av corridor and the 8 Av corridor lines on the E and F lines.

A Transit Wireless social media competition encourages riders to share photos of themselves either by the Subway Library posters – which will appear throughout the system — or near or while riding the one-of-a-kind wrapped Subway Library train.

Riders who use the hashtag #SubwayLibrary and tag @TWWiFi @MTA on Instagram or Twitter will be automatically entered to win one of six prizes (either one of three Amazon Kindle Voyages or one of three one-of-a-kind prizes from The New York Public Library). Two randomly selected winners every other week will be notified via direct message on the social media platform on which they posted, and will also be announced by @TWWiFi Transit Wireless WiFi across their social media accounts. Full terms and conditions of the contest will be available through the TransitWirelessWiFi portal and https://transitwirelesswifi.com/contests-promotions