Sophomore biology major Sam Adler uses the laptop he borrowed from McKeldin Library; iPads, e-book readers and headphones are other items available for rent.
Students waiting to get their hands on the newest iPads and MacBooks no longer have to line up outside the Apple store to check out these gadgets — McKeldin Library now rents them out for free.
On April 18, library officials launched the university’s Libraries Equipment Loan Program, and students have already begun to rent items from its collection of Apple and Dell laptops, netbooks, tablets and headphones for four-hour periods. E-book readers are also available for seven-day rental periods. Although students are able to rent the equipment for free from the service desk, funds to purchase the technology came from a $50 mandated libraries fee all students paid in the fall. The fee was also required for the spring.
While some students said the program is a welcomed addition to the McKeldin Library’s collection, others said the money could be put to better use because most students already own their own electronics.
“I don’t think well of that,” senior economics major Chao Wu said. “I’m just paying $50 for somebody else.”
But Sharon Epps, the librarian who oversees the program, said University Libraries created this service in response to a request from a student advisory committee that Libraries Dean Patricia Steele formed when she first took over two years ago. Steele tasked the students with developing ideas to bring the libraries into the age of technology — this new rental service, they said, would be the best way to do so.
While officials are still working to get the word out about the program, Epps said students have already tried out the new service: In its first week, she said, the library rented out 24 iPads, 23 MacBooks, 13 Dell laptops and eight e-book readers and tablets to students.
“So far, it’s running very smoothly,” Epps said. “I’m happy to have seen such a demand after just one week. That’s the whole reason why we’re doing this.”
Steele wrote in an email that many university libraries throughout the country have implemented similar programs.
“I will not be surprised if our program turns out to be the most visible and popular use of the technology fee — acknowledging that online resources are tops for all users,” Steele wrote. “I see it as a model for other service ideas that will arise over the next years.”
But the library is not the only place on the campus for laptop rentals; Stamp Student Union’s information desk loans Apple and PC laptops to students for two-hour periods. According to Lisa Carney, the student union’s buildings operations manager, its 25 laptops have been checked out from the desk more than 13,000 times since the beginning of the fall semester. She noted that the desk would occasionally run out of laptops during busy study periods.
The student union does not offer tablets, e-book readers or headphones, and Epps said the libraries’ program will only continue to expand. Within a few weeks, students will also be able to rent still and video cameras as well as “universal power adapters” that can charge any kind of laptop; the order for these additions has already been placed.
And although many students were upset the mandated $50 libraries technology fee is going toward items most already have at their fingertips, Epps said most of the money raised from the fee actually went toward buying 40 new online databases. Because this purchase included a variety of e-books, she said the investments complement each other well and will ultimately benefit students.
Some students, however, were still excited at the prospect of getting their hands on new technology without having to pay for it.
“We all have laptops, but we don’t have e-book readers,” said Abdullah Zaidi, a telecommunications and engineering graduate student. “And even if you were just to use [the equipment] for recreation, you don’t have to carry your laptop or take it from home if it were available right here.”
“I would want to rent it … because I really want to hold an iPad,” said junior community health major Maureen Apugo.
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