The Eau Claire, Wisconsin Public Library Begins Lending iPads

From AllThingsD:

The Eau Claire, Wis., library is lending out iPads. Some of the iPads are loaned for a week at a time, while others are offered for four hours at a time for use within the libary. Each tablet is loaded with 1,000 books and 10 audiobooks, as well as various apps and Web site links. In all, the library has 44 iPads to lend.

“The goal of the iPads program is to first introduce our customers to a new technology they haven’t used,” library director John Stoneberg told TV station WEAU. “Since we are the first public library, if not the first library in the United States to lend out iPads, it’s been a challenge but it’s been exciting.”

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Video and Text: Eau Claire library launches iPad lending program (via WEAU-TV)

Thanks to a $50,000 grant from the Presto Foundation, library users will be able to stay up-to-date on the latest technology without paying hundreds of dollars.

“Since we are the first public library, if not the first library in the United States to lend out iPads, it’s been a challenge but it’s been exciting,” said library director John Stoneberg.

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[Stoneberg] said only one iPad will be allowed to be checked out per household at once, and users will have to sign a contract to take the tablets out of the library.

The library director also said any materials downloaded on the iPads by users will be deleted* once they’re check back in.

* Since you can re-download an app(s) after they’re acquired/purchased, a user can add the apps back to the device each time they borrow an iPad.

Filed under: Funding, Libraries, Patrons and Users, Public Libraries