Kindles and libraries

I’ve been watching the news stories about Kindle use in libraries with interest. There was a thread on collib-l earlier this year about the mixed messages from Amazon about loaning Kindles. The concern focused on Amazon’s terms of use agreement and whether libraries could lend Kindles with pre-loaded books. Some libraries are loaning Kindles (with books) and others are not. On June 5, there was an article in Library Journal about a study being conducted at Brigham Young University Library on the use of Kindles for faculty interlibrary loans (Brigham Young Library Tests Kindle as ILL Option for Faculty). Unfortunately, after the article was published, BYU suspended the study. University officials were uncomfortable with the oral permissions they received from Amazon and want to obtain written permission instead (At BYU, Kindle Program on Hold, But University of Nebraska-Omaha’s Program Going Strong). Kindles has raised a variety of questions about copyright and terms of use agreements and these questions persist.