Breaking news from ALA: Total Boox announced this morning it has joined forces with a library and a hospital in Texas to launch the world’s first Free Reading Zone^SM (FREZ^SM). This is a monumental undertaking that hits at the heart of library outreach, digital literacy, and the point where the two meet to support and enable reading in ways not seen before.

As explained in the press release below, FREZ^SM is an effort to spread reading beyond libraries with the help of libraries and other organizations (for-profit and not-for-profit) willing to participate, and it turns out, many do. Brazoria County Library System (TX) will make Total Boox’s ebook collection available for free reading at a hospital in its community, making it the world’s first Free Reading Zone. Anyone on the hospital’s campus—patients, caregivers, visitors—will have free and unlimited access to 100,000 ebooks (including fiction, nonfiction, educational content, children’s, YA, etc.).

No Shelf Required is taking special interest in this project as it also hits at the heart of its own mission: to raise awareness among book, library, and information professionals of the potential of ebooks and econtent to transform the world from one where access to the written word is a privilege to one where it is the new norm. The portal will serve as the primary media supporter of this initiative and we will report on its development frequently, not only at this hospital in Texas but in various other places as they are announced.

Congratulations to all involved, especially Brazoria County Library System for setting an example for libraries everywhere and showing what is possible with ebooks and digital content. True leadership begins and ends with putting your best foot forward.

Full press release below. More coverage, including an op-ed on the significance of this initiative, to follow in the coming days.

Total Boox, Brazoria County Library System (TX), and Memorial Hermann Pearland Hospital (TX) Raise the Bar Higher for All Who Support and Enable Reading and Literacy

June 25, 2016 — Total Boox, a revolutionary ebook service breaking all barriers between readers and ebooks—including limited availability, lack of instant access, and prohibitive cost—is thrilled to announce a groundbreaking initiative: Free Reading Zones^SM (FREZ^SM). Envisioned to empower libraries and all who wish to sponsor and enable reading, FREZ^SM is a way to endow places—public and private, small and vast, indoors and outdoors—with culture, literacy, entertainment, and education, allowing anyone within the boundaries of the Free Reading Zone to have full access to a large collection of books and read without worrying about availability or cost.

Brazoria County Library System, TX (BCLS) has agreed to make the Total Boox collection of nearly 100,000 ebooks, already available to its card holders, free to anyone on the campus of Memorial Hermann Pearland Hospital—including patients, visitors, or caregivers—making it the first library in the world to participate in the FREZ^SM initiative and making Memorial Hermann Pearland the first hospital in the world to become a ‘free reading zone.’

“We already provide the Total Boox service to patrons in our community. Why not take those instantly available ebooks beyond the confines of the library and make them available all over our community?” said Tom West, Adult Coordinator at BCLS. “And since community outreach is an integral part of library activities, why not partner with organizations willing to help us spread reading?”

“When BCLS approached us to consider taking part in FREZ^SM, we immediately saw an opportunity to further improve our patient experience by doing something extraordinary for patients, families and guests,” said Gerrit von Wenckstern, Marketing Manager at Memorial Hermann Pearland, part of the Memorial Hermann Health System in the Houston area, with 5,500 affiliated physicians and over 24,000 employees.

“We’ve been planning this for some time, and we believe it is the first of many FREZ^SM initiatives we will see in the future,” said Yoav Lorch, CEO of Total Boox. “There are so many people in the world who can benefit from books, and so many books asking to be read. We just have to create more opportunities for them to meet and engage. If we bring willing institutions and organizations together and make good use of the right technology and business model, we can make reading a bigger part of everyone’s lives.”

Librarians attending ALA in Orlando are invited to Total Boox’ reception on Saturday, 4 p.m. at Booth 2383. Please join us in celebrating the launch of the world’s first FREZ^SM with drinks and refreshments. We will also raise our glasses in honor of author Jonathan Rabb and his new novel, Among the Living, soon to be published by Other Press, long-time supporter of Total Boox.

About Total Boox

Total Boox’ innovative service makes ebooks instantly available for reading—with no limitations, holds, or expirations. Its collection of nearly 100,000 quality titles from top publishers—comprising all categories of fiction and nonfiction—may be accessed on all major devices, and its state-of-the-art reading app is consistently ranked by librarians as the most user-friendly on the market.

Media inquiries: [email protected]