Goethe Institute Elibrary

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aokoye
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Goethe Institute Elibrary

Postby aokoye » Tue Nov 10, 2015 4:07 am

I haven't seen any information here or on the old site about this, but it turns out the Goethe Institute has an online library service that is available at a very low cost. The link to the website is here and even without a subscription you're able to browse the collection of ebooks, periodicals, music (it looks like they have a chunk of the Naxos label which is random and has nothing to do with language learning), and videos. In the US and Canada it's $10 a year and you're able to check out books for 14 days and other media for shorter periods of time. Information on how to sign up by country can be found at this link (scroll down to "elibrary").

They have a very large collection of ebooks and they also have audiobooks (which are found under the eAudio link). It looks like they also have most if not all of both Hueber and Klett's graded readers. It also has Deutsch Perfekt PDF and audio files. You can read the ebooks with Adobe Digital Editions, Adobe Reader (there's a specific "do you want to download a format for Adobe Reader" option - the file won't open correctly with other PDF viewers), and with other applications that can read .ascm files from what I can tell. I use Bluefire Reader on my iPad and it works just fine. It will not work with a Kindle, which they make very clear on their website. They also claim that iPad usage is limited but I think they're trying to cover their ass because it works just fine with Bluefire Reader and I'm sure there are other iOS apps that read DRM'd EPUB files/.ascm files.

I only got access to the service this morning but it looks like a great website and given than it's only $10 (in the US at least) for an entire year's worth of access it seems worth it.
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Montmorency
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Re: Goethe Institute Elibrary

Postby Montmorency » Tue Nov 10, 2015 3:59 pm

Thanks a lot for this. I used to be a member/subscriber of the London Goethe Institute library, and at that time they would send out books and films on VHS (and I guess DVD later on) for no extra cost over and above the modest annual subscription. I'm not sure if they still do that, but e-books and audiobooks are a distinct possibility. Thank for reminding me about them!
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Re: Goethe Institute Elibrary

Postby Cavesa » Tue Nov 10, 2015 5:55 pm

I think this elibrary was mentioned once on the old htlal. Either I read about it or mentioned it, but either way, the info was incomplete. I was under the impression the elibrary was only for the normal library members of the libraries belonging to the Goethe Instituts around the world.

What I really liked about it was a lot of books for intermediate learners available. I mean those easier genres, like fantasy or comic books. Those are not too present in the physical library of the Prague Goethe Institut, as far as I've looked.

Thanks for bringing this up!
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