X

NYC Library is posting classic novels to Instagram for you to read

Cuddle up with a good book … on Instagram.

Marrian Zhou Staff Reporter
Marrian Zhou is a Beijing-born Californian living in New York City. She joined CNET as a staff reporter upon graduation from Columbia Journalism School. When Marrian is not reporting, she is probably binge watching, playing saxophone or eating hot pot.
Marrian Zhou
instanovels-covers

Insta Novels

NYC Public Library

Now you can read books on Instagram . Just follow @nypl.

The New York City Library on Wednesday started posting classic novels and short stories to its Instagram account using photo and video storytelling.

The new initiative, Insta Novels, is meant to spark love and appreciation for reading that may lead to more visits to the library, according to a NYPL spokesperson. It also promotes reading to new audiences by interacting with the public on a digital platform.

The library posted Alice's Adventures in Wonderland as its first Insta Novel.

The books show up in the Highlights section of Instagram. You read them as you'd view Instagram stories, except that you can hold the page by keeping your thumb on the screen and turn the page by lifting your thumb, according to the library's blog post.  

screen-shot-2018-08-22-at-10-02-41-am

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in the form of Instagram stories with the option to hold the page.

Screenshot by Marrian Zhou/CNET

The @nypl Instagram account currently has 196K followers. Although the library is over a hundred years old, its Instagram posts are quite lively, according to Tech Republic. For instance, the historic institution has fun with #bookfacefriday, posting photos of people holding a book with a face on the cover over their own face, making it look like the book cover's face is part of their own body. You might also want to check out #bibliofurtues, #shoppingsunday and #captionthis.