New York Today: A City Library, on the Subway

Subway, or library?

Updated, 9:21 a.m.

Good morning on this mellow Thursday.

Be on the lookout for a train with 10 subway cars that have been covered in bright blue, purple, green, orange and yellow.

The train — which is alternating between the E and F lines in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens — is decorated with the words “SUBWAY LIBRARY.”

Inside those 10 cars, the seats resemble books on a shelf.

Beginning today, the Subway Library will offer commuters six weeks of free downloadable books from the city’s public libraries.

But you don’t need to be in a library car to take advantage. When you enter a subway station, connect to the Transit Wireless WiFi network available at all underground stations. When you’ve logged on, you’ll see a prompt for SubwayLibrary.com, and — voilà — you can start browsing and downloading books, short stories, chapters and excerpts donated by publishers to the New York Public Library.

You can also get to the page by opening your browser and navigating to SubwayLibrary.com.

The New York Public Library, Brooklyn Public Library, Queens Library, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Transit Wireless created the project.

“It used to be that you were ‘unplugged’ on the subway, and even though you’re connecting to the wireless now, you’ll still have the sense of being unplugged when reading books,” said Lynn Lobash, manager of reader services for the New York Public Library. “It’s a lot different than the frantic sense of checking your email or being on Twitter.”

You’ll find short reads curated for the quick commutes, and long reads for the farther destinations or delayed rides. You can explore New York stories, children’s titles, young-adult novels or new releases in the “New & Noteworthy” category.

Source: www.nytimes.com