I know this is a little off topic, but have any of you had any experience with lending e-readers and netbooks to patrons at your library? We are currently looking into this kind of program and I thought it would be a good idea to get some feedback from other academic libraries that have provided its patrons with these kinds of resources.

Here are a some of questions that come to mind.

Do you allow students borrowing netbooks and e-readers to take them outside the library, or is their usage restricted to purely in-library use?

Is the loaner program for e-readers and netbooks popular with students? Is this equipment circulating?

What do you require of the students borrowing such equipment (ID card, signature, deposit . . .?)

Are students able to print or save documents found or created on this digital equipment to some kind of external location, or is their primary means of keeping documents either found or created to send them to their email accounts?

Is this equipment ever used in a classroom setting ( I am thinking in particular of netbooks which may allow for a kind of small computer lab experience)?

How has the equipment held up through these loaner programs? Has the library experienced any problems with theft or equipment abuse?

Any other issues we should consider?

Let me know what you think. I have always found the response from this listserv valuable.