Students at Concordia University will be the first in Quebec to be able to take out iPads from their libraries for a six-hour loan period come mid-October.

Guylaine Beaudry, the director of Concordia’s Webster Library, told OpenFile Montreal that the pilot project of 25 iPads is currently being tested with library faculty.

“Libraries, in particular academic libraries, have been going under a huge transformation for the past 15 years and the transition is far from over. One of the things that we see is that we are putting more and more money in acquiring digital resources,” Beaudry said. “Last year, the 19 academic libraries in Quebec spent more than $33 million in acquisition of digital resources.”

Concordia already has a loan service for laptops. Students use their student cards to borrow a device. If the device is broken or not returned, charges are incurred.

“We have 280 laptops that we are providing to our students and it’s clear that we are answering a need. It was very easy for us to go from the laptop to the iPad,” said Beaudry. “It’s not surprising because for our staff, faculty members and students, it is now our day-to-day way to interact with information and publications.”

While McGill University has offered Sony eReaders to their students for the past year and a half, Concordia decided to go with Apple’s iPads because of the vast array of applications that can be downloaded to the tablet. The libraries will start lending out the 25 iPads to students in mid-October and depending on feedback, will increase the number of devices offered.

Photo: yto via Flickr (http://opnfil.es/pV6vAN)