Check Out 50 Books At Once!

Nobody expects to see books like "The Last Werewolf" and "The Emperor of all Maladies: A Biography of Cancer" sitting side by side, but these books are only two of 50 titles uploaded onto the brand new Amazon Kindles and Barnes & Noble Nooks that recently joined the Harvard Library collections.

These
eReaders are part of the Harvard Library eReader Pilot Program, which allows students to check out preloaded eReaders for academic or personal use.

The program, part of the controversial Harvard Library Transition,
hopes to explore ways to incorporate new technologies
into the library system.

These eReaders are already wildly popular: All of the eReaders are checked out of the library, and interested students
must join a substantial waitlist in order to check out a device.

Each eReader features the same collection, chosen to help alleviate the demand for the library's most popular books.

"Far and away 'The Hunger Games
' trilogy had the biggest demand," explained Rebecca H. Wingfield, Collection Development Specialist at Widener Library.

Naturally, "The Hunger Games" were uploaded to the eReaders, along with a slew of popular works and a small number of academic titles. The collection is "an eclectic, fun, and weird group," Wingfield said.

Librarians are also eager to see whether the Nook or the Kindle will be the more durable model, and the program ultimately aims to determine how students intend to use the eReaders. "We do want everyone's feedback on both the content and the devices," 
said Roseanne Sheridan, Reader Services Librarian at Lamont. "This is the only way we will know how to better expand the program."

Interested in finding out more about the available titles on the eReaders? Find the full list here.