The Belmont Public Library in Massachussetts was recently gifted with 10 Kindles - ' “We put them on the shelves and in a half hour, they were all gone,” said Maureen Conners, the library’s director. ' With a $6,000 donation from Liz and Graham Allison who prize their own Kindles, it's an experiment in that the Library would not have a budget for this and Liz Allison thinks it'll be interesting to see if interest holds up after 3 months.
In the meantime all were checked out the other day, with 42 patrons on a waiting list for them. The remaining $3,000 is for "downloading 50 books and purchasing leather covers with some money left over to buy more books in the future and cover unanticipated costs or repairs."
I did wonder what happens if a loaner is sat on or dropped and damaged, or even lost.
The library director, Maureen Conners, said, "Part of the reason public libraries exist is to do what we’re doing. This is new technology that a lot of people can’t afford and they want to be able to touch it and feel it."
Clicking the image at top left takes you to a video of staff training patrons checking out the Kindle, with a few words by Conners explaining the program.
Just a soft real-world story I enjoyed. More details at the web page of course.
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