The Vasche Library of California State University, Stanislaus now has iPads available for students to check out as of last week.
The iPads are accessible to any student with a Warrior ID Card.
There are not any restrictions on how the students may use the iPads; it is a  personal choice whether to use them for academics or entertainment.
“We don’t know how students are going to use them,” Tim Held, Circulation Supervisor of Vasche Library, said.
“We don’t really have an agenda [for them]; we just want to see what happens and hope they can be useful.”
CSU Stanislaus purchased 10 16-gigabyte, fourth generation iPads during May of last year.
A grant provided the money to pay for the tablets through a California State University-wide program called Alternative Learning Solutions (ALS).
The ALS program focused on CSU faculty using the apps to learn how to find alternatives to traditional textbooks.
Once the faculty were finished, the university decided to make the iPads available to students.
The process of checking out an iPad begins by asking if one is available at the Circulation Desk.
They are available for four-hour time slots, must be back returned to the Circulation Desk half an hour before the library closes.
On the back of the iPad, students will find a log with the time that it is due back and a highlighted reminder that the cost of a late return is $10 for every hour.
If an iPad is lost or broken while in a student’s possession, the fee is $599.
Apps readily available on the iPads that could be useful to students include Prezi, iTunes U, Khan Academy and Blackboard.
All pre-loaded games have been removed from the tablets, but students are allowed to download whatever apps they would like from their Apple account.
A student can log in with their Apple ID, download their favorite apps and use the iPad at their leisure.
“When you’re done with the iPad, you return it and it gets wiped,” Guillermo Meraz, Library Systems, said. “We don’t keep data.”
After the tablet is returned, a computer at the Circulation Desk automatically wipes each individual student’s data clean from the device and then restores the iPad to its original library settings.
Some acknowledge the usefulness of the iPads for students to boost their studying experience, but there is still the concern over students not using them for academic purposes.
“I think it’s a very useful option for students to supplement studying by being able to have it in a quiet area of the library,” Chris Garcia (junior, Chemistry) said.
“However, I feel the use of them could be abused for social networking or non-educational purposes.”