To cater to the reading habits of our i-generation users, the Library acquired ten Kindles for check-out. Each Kindle is pre-loaded with 20 popular eBooks. All Kindles were checked out within an hour of the initial announcement. There were 117 checkouts and 174 holds from 15 April – 21 July 2013. Each Kindle kept a long queue of holds. In a survey to collect Kindle users' feedbacks, 97% were satisfied or very satisfied with the experience and 89% were satisfied with the variety of loaded Kindle titles.
With the Provost's support, the Library has purchased 10 more Kindles and is adding more pre-loaded e-books, especially Chinese ones. Some users suggested checking out the eBooks directly to their own Kindle devices. However, this model is only available in public libraries in the United States so far. We will continue monitoring Kindle developments and revise the borrowing model when appropriate. |