Nexus 7

People in Queens, N.Y. will be able to use tablets for free starting next week.

Google donated 17,000 Nexus 7 tablets to the New York State Community Action Association, and Queens Library received 5,000 of those units. The library is going to lend the tablets to library card- customers starting Nov. 20.

The tablets will be at seven Queens locations, and customers can borrow them for a month with the option of three renewals, according to InfoDocket.

The tablets will come with pre-loaded content with educational information, resources for job searching, computer skills training, immigration and citizenship information and more. The tablets will have full Internet within Wi-Fi range.

This is one of the first programs like this in the country – especially in such a large population. Queens is home to 2.3 million people. While not all have library cards, it’s going to be interesting to see how the library deals with people who don’t return the tablet on time, if ever.

Remember that story with the guy going to jail for not returning a study book?

Oh boy.

And what if the tablet is dropped and broken?

Minus these issues, the premise of the program is intriguing. The tablets are, hopefully, meant for education and will give people resources they may not get otherwise. Instead of having to go to the library every time they want to get help with immigration or job-related information, the tablet will be right there, and they won’t be bound by the hours of the library.

Additionally, this will help people get comfortable with technology in their own homes without any fear of embarrassment.

Obviously, children are going to enjoy the tablet and do what they can to have fun. But I really see adults taking advantage of this opportunity to familiarize themselves with changing technology and learning new things.

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