How to Legally Read Ebooks for Free in Malaysia
Personally, I love reading paperbacks and hardcopies, but they are just too expensive for a broke student like me, especially considering the volumes I read. Ebooks are hence my go-tos whenever reading cravings hit me again. Still, as most ebooks need to be purchased, albeit at a cheaper price than their physical counterparts, my financial conundrum remains unsolved. (You shouldn’t be reading pirated ebooks!)
So one day I came to wonder, if we have a library for physical books, wouldn’t we also have an electronic library for electronic books, where the public could borrow ebook titles for a period of time and return them?
After Googling and exploring around, it turns out such facilities really do exist and are available in Malaysia. One of the prominent initiatives is OverDrive, a digital distributor of electronic media entertainment that provides millions of ebook titles for free. It has a mobile reading app named Libby for Android and iOS platforms. There are some initiatives by the Malaysian government but, for the optimal user experience, I highly recommend you to stick with OverDrive.
How it works has a familiar ring to it if you have been to a physical library before — (1) get a library card from your local libraries that are registered with OverDrive, (2) configure your library on the app and (3) use the card to borrow ebook, audiobooks and online magazine titles. You can start reading after performing these three steps. However, I’m only going to focus on the first step, which is to get a library card from local libraries specifically in Malaysia, because the official OverDrive website already has sufficient tutorials for the second and third step.
A list of available Malaysian libraries registered with OverDrive are as follows:
- National Library of Malaysia
- Perbadanan Perpustakaan Awam Selangor
- Forest City
- Kedah Digital Library
- Yayasan Bank Rakyat
- Penang Digital Library
- Sabah State Library
- Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris
- MBSA Majlis Bandaraya Shah Alam
I remember briefly glancing through all the libraries and their number of titles, coming to a rough conclusion that the National Library of Malaysia and the Sabah State Library are the only contenders that hold over a colossal 18k and 17k electronic titles respectively, whereas the rest hold under 5k. Probably not worth your time applying for memberships.
1.0 National Library of Malaysia
Alas, I found little to no tutorials online specifying how to get a card from our very own national library. When I clicked on the “Get Card” button on the OverDrive website under the National Library of Malaysia, it redirected me to an error page. I had to manually apply for a membership online (or in person, if you prefer).
After some Googling again, I found out there are two ways to access ebooks on OverDrive: sign in through (1) a u-Pustaka account or (2) a random library card number.
The first method would require more setup steps but you can get exclusive access to this account, and it belongs to you alone. The second method is simple and hassle-free but you might need to share the card with other people.
1.1 u-Pustaka Account
Eventually, I went for the first method. Our national library’s digital library is named u-Pustaka and I had to create an account here. After filling in all details, choosing my username and password and submitting the form, I could sign in on the OverDrive website using previously entered credentials.
1.2 Library Card Number
For those who don’t mind sharing a card with the public, you could go to the very same OverDrive page here and select “Library card number”. Just enter a value between pnm001 and pnm999 or eb001 and eb999 and you’re good to go. It’s also password-free.
2.0 Sabah State Library
Somehow, the national library didn’t have a lot of the book titles that I searched for, so I decided to get another membership from Sabah, despite residing in Selangor. The “Get Card” link is equally broken for some reason and I headed straight to its official website. Here is the Q&A page: (1) membership is open to all Malaysians, permanent residents and foreigners with valid travel documents; (2) adults are charged a biannual fee of RM10, whereas those below 20 and above 54 enjoy free services (see breakdown); and (3) a penalty fee of RM5.00 is charged for a lost card.
Here is the online membership application form. You need to pay the fees and claim your membership in person by visiting the nearest branch library within seven working days. You can only sign in on OverDrive here after all that. For my (special) case, I got in contact with the Sabah State Library through Facebook Messenger and applied directly for membership with the help of an obliging staff. I haven’t really paid any fees yet because I was in the free tier during my application.
And that’s all you need to do to start borrowing books. For reading on Android and iOS platforms, do check out available Libby tutorials on how to login to the library. Some things to note are just because it is a digital book doesn’t mean it has unlimited copies. Each title will have several copies, where you have to be on the waitlist if none are available at the moment. Other than reading your borrowed titles on Libby, there is also an option to download the copy that is protected by Digital Rights Management (DRM), where you can read it on Adobe Digital Editions (lame app, if you ask me) or e-ink devices with DRM support such as Kobo, if you prefer. Happy reading to you and me!
Do clap this story if you have found this article to be useful to you. Thanks!
