Amazon Kindle Library: 3 Ways to Borrow Kindle Books

Growing up just before video games gained the stature they have now, reading books was my ultimate pastime as a kid. In an ordinary world, they were like passports to a whole new world filled with adventure, mystery, and learning.

Then again, I could only buy a certain number of books given my limited budget as a child. Given my unquenchable thirst for material to read, this made my fellow bookworms and the public library an excellent resource for extending my reading pleasure via good, old borrowing.

Borrowing in the Age of Kindle

With the addition of ebooks to the mix, borrowing also now entails digital options that further widen your reading universe. This includes Amazon’s line of Kindle devices, which have dominated the market as the ebook readers of choice for a lot of people.

If you own a Kindle, whether it be an E Ink reader such as the Kindle Paperwhite and base Kindle or Amazon tablets such as the Kindle Fire HD or even the Kids Edition, then borrowing Kindle ebooks is available to you. Owners of the Kindle app for other mobile devices or the PC and Mac can borrow ebooks as well. Regardless of the device, you basically have three options for borrowing books:

• Borrowing from another Kindle owner.
• Borrowing from a public library.
• Borrowing from the Amazon Kindle Owners’ Lending Library.

Each method is pretty easy to use provided you have an Internet connection. Library borrowers also will need a library card and those using the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library must have an Amazon Prime membership. Ready to borrow those ebooks? Here is a step-by-step tutorial on how you can borrow ebooks through each method.

How to Borrow an Ebook From Another Kindle Owner

If you know another Kindle owner, you can actually borrow ebooks from them for 14 days. As the borrower, you don’t even need to own a Kindle. That’s because you can borrow ebooks using the Kindle app on your smartphone, tablet or PC. Note that periodicals such as magazines and newspapers can not be borrowed via this method as of this tutorial’s writing. Not all books are also available for borrowing.

1. To borrow an ebook from another Kindle owner, he or she has to lend it to you first. The owner of the title will have to go to amazon.com/mycd, click Content, and go to the ebook you want to borrow. From there that person can access the Manage Your Content and Devices section of their account.

2. Have the lender click on the More actions next to the title of the ebook, which is denoted by an ellipsis.

3. From there, click on Loan this title. If the option is not available, this means that the book is not eligible for lending.

4. If the book is eligible for lending, you will get several fields that you can fill out. The required fields are the Recipient’s Email address and From (the lender's name). The e-mail address should be the recipient’s personal one and not their Kindle address. Once the lender has filled out the fields, click the Send now tab.

5. Once the book has been sent, check your email and open the message. In the email body, click on the tab that says Get your loaned book now.

6. You will be prompted to sign in and pick a device to send the borrowed book to, then click on the Accept Loaned Book button. If you don’t have a Kindle device, you will get instructions on how to download the book on your PC or Mac.

7. To return the ebook, go to Manage Your Content and Devices via the amazon.com/mycd address.

8. Next to the title of the book you’re returning under the Your Content tab, select the title, and then click the Action box.

9. From the pop-up menu, select Return this book.

10. Confirm the return by clicking Yes.

Keep in mind that books only can be borrowed once via the same account with this method so you can’t just return the lent book and then borrow it again over and over. The owner of the book also won’t be able to read it while it is being borrowed by another user.

How to Borrow an Ebook From a Public Library

Even with the advent of non-physical texts, the good old public library remains an option for borrowing ebooks as well. All you need is to do is find out if your library lends ebooks and you’re good to go as long as you have the requisite library card. Just because the books are digital does not mean libraries have unlimited copies to lend out, though. Like regular books, each digital copy is treated like one title and can only be borrowed by one person at a time.

1. Find out if the public library lends out Kindle books. You can either check the library’s website or use OverDrive to verify that they do. To use the latter, go to search.overdrive.com.

2. If the library lends out Kindle ebooks, go to their website and search for the title that you’re interested in borrowing.

3. After you have found the book that you want, sign into your Amazon account once you get to the checkout portion. From here, select the device or Kindle app that you want to send the borrowed ebook to.

4. If using a Kindle, connect it online via Wi-Fi. You should receive the book automatically if the Kindle’s Whispersync functionality is activated.

5. If not you will need to manually sync your Kindle. To do that, go to your Kindle menu and tap the Settings tab (it looks like a gear). This will bring out another submenu.

6. Tap Sync My Kindle. You should get your borrowed ebook after that.