Free E-Book And Tablet Rentals Available At MDC

Miami Dade College students and staff can now rent  tablets and e-books— free of charge— at  their campus library.  

The program, which is college-wide, implements an up-to-date way of learning along with hands-on experience with modern electronics.

Rentals are for 14 day periods, and can be renewed once for an additional 14 days. To rent the items, students and staff  need to provide their MDC ID card.

“With this new technology, students will open their minds to all the kind of learning resources available to them nowadays,” said Miguel Wedderburn, an instructional assistant at the Wolfson campus library.

More than 35,000 e-books will be available through the program. The new technology allows greater accessibility—and does away with competition for books that may be checked out.  

Tablets available college-wide include 74 iPads, 27 Nooks, Kindles and Android tablets. The devices cost the college a total of $41,180. The  amount of tablets available at each campus will vary, said Zoila E. De Yurre Fatemian, Director of Learning Resources at Wolfson Campus

“It’s awesome,” said Steve St. Gerard, a music composition major. “It shows [that] the school is up to speed with technology.”

Online tutorials as well as instructional assistance will be available at every campus library to give students a step-by-step guide on how e-books can be downloaded. Tablets will not only make e-books easily accessible, but they will allow students to get all the apps that  the devices offer.

“As a music major, the iPad will allow me to keep all of my music sheets and notes in one place and always portable,” said  Daniel Bergamini. “Music and note taking applications will have everything right at my fingertips.”

College officials are well aware of the various kinds of tablets available  in the market. Wedderburn said the College decided to go with a higher number  of iPads because they are  more user-friendly. iTunes’s distinguishing feature of permitting one account to control multiple devices allows library staff to be able to reset the tablets after every use in the most effective manner.

With 101 tablets available in total, students and faculty will have access on a first come, first serve basis.  The College hopes to expand the program at each campus.

“I think its going to help a lot of students further their education,” said Jose dos Anjos,a  biology major at MDC. “Free access to knowledge is the key to education for everyone.”

Staff writer Allison Moraga contributed to this report.