SPRINGDALE— April Hanners said she likes to stay busy using the Springdale Public Library’s new iPads while she keeps an eye on her kids.
Nine iPads were put into circulation at the library June 4 and four to five people have checked them out every day, said Laura Speer, reference librarian. They can be checked out for a maximum of three hours by anyone 18 and older who has a library card. The devices cannot be taken from the library.
At A Glance (w/logo)
The Apps
The Springdale Public Library's Apple iPad feature various applications:Library
• Netflix
• Pandora
• YouTube
• TV Guide
• HBO to Go
• Cox Connect
• NPR
• USA Today
• The Weather Channel Max
• Skype
• Photoshop Express
• Google Maps
• Angry Birds
• Candy Crush
• Temple Run
• Fruit Ninja
• PBS Kids
• Lego Friends
Source: Staff Report
The iPads have applications for games, multimedia, news and social media already installed, Speer said. Books are also available to read on the devices.
The library purchased nine iPads with a $30,000 grant from Cox Communications, Speer said. A message left for Kelly Zega, director of public affairs for Cox Communications, seeking comment wasn't returned Thursday.
Keeping iPads in the library allows more people to use them, Speer said. Replacement costs — $544 each — is also among the concerns leading officials not to allow the devices to leave the building. That policy could change.
“In the future, who knows what we’ll do,” she said.
Rogers Public Library has five iPads for public to use, said Robert Finch, assistant director. They also don't allow iPads to be taken outside of the library. They allowed mp3 players to be checked out and taken home. Within a year they were all damaged, he said.
Bentonville Public Library has Nook electronic readers that can be checked out and taken home, said Hadi Dudley, library director.
Fayetteville Public Library has Kindle and Nook electronic readers as well as 10 iPad Minis that can be taken home, said Brandi Holt, marketing and communications manager. Both libraries have found the tablets and electronic readers generally don’t end up broken when they are taken outside the library.
“They take care of it just like it was their own,” Dudley said.
The Springdale librarians chose to purchase iPads because it’s what most people like to use, said Anne Gresham, technology coordinator.
“The iPad is the most popular of the tablets out there,” Speer said. “So this is what we chose to go with.”
The use of tablets and electronic readers in libraries is a newer trend, said Maureen Sullivan, president of the American Library Association. The use of this technology in libraries is important because it demonstrates libraries are keeping up with advances in technology and what the public desires.
“We are in a digital age,” she said.
Hanners uses the tablet to stay busy when she’s with her kids in the children’s section of the Springdale library. The iPad doesn’t take a computer away from a child. Children 11 and younger must stay with a parent while in the library, Speer said.
The iPads in the library don’t have keyboards and aren’t good for typing documents, which are better done on a traditional computer, Speer said. They also can’t print anything because there are no wireless printers for the iPads to access.
People must email documents to themselves on the tablet and open them on a regular computer to print them, Speer said. The iPads will probably have the option to print starting in 2014.
The library will offer classes with the tablets in the fall, Speer said. One topic will be how to take and edit photos with an iPad.