Why only six hours?

Calvin shares this collection with all the other academic libraries in Michigan. The six hour policy balances use and availability. Since only one person can use a copy at any given time, we felt that six hours gave a person enough time to read important segments yet made the eBook available a maximum amount of time. It is possible to immediately check the book out again.

About the shared collection

Through the Michigan Library Consortium (MLC), the Hekman Library has access to the MLC shared collection of e-books. Hekman Library patrons now have access to over 6000 electronic books. The term eBook applies to published materials, such as reference books, scholarly monographs, and consumer books that have been converted into digital format for electronic distribution.

All our eBooks have been published within the last decade. These are generally scholarly monographs, many from academic presses. Access to these eBooks is limited to participating libraries including the Hekman Library. They are all available through WebCat. We anticipate that this collection will grow rapidly, and in many cases, the only copy of a book owned by the library will be electronic.