I was very interested to read an article in the Journal of Eahil this month (2 June 2011) about a project in a library in the Netherlands (specifically at the University medicla Center Groningen (UMCG)) to buy 8 ipads and loan them to library users.The Ipads on loan project was aimed at creating an larger awareness among staff and students on the possibilities of the iPad. Library staff pre-loaded the ipads with a wide selection of apps downloaded from itunes. Anyone wishing to loan an ipad had to meet with the head of the Library to receive their ipad and had to agree to meet the head of the Library again at the end of the project to give feedback, which must have given a good opportunity for librarians to learn more about their users needs and workflows and must have raised awareness of library services. The service was very popular and currently has a backlog of 80 interested staff members.
We already have an ipad in the Cambridge Medical library for library staff training purposes so that this technology can be taken into account in our library service delivery planning. By extension it is important that the rest of the hospital and University similarly take this technology into account, and perhaps our library (in conjunction with the Computer services or New Technologies departments?) should consider leading the way in enabling this to take place. Since the project has already selected a list of appropriate apps this could save us work at the apps selection stage.
A parallel project carried out research into the needs of users of mobile technology and created a medical library app. Guus also mentions a webpage that lists future new tablets.
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