Lamont Library has introduced a new program to loan laptops to students in the library and has installed 24 new roaming network jacks in an effort to keep pace with what officials called a nationwide trend toward increased wireless network access.

Over the summer, the College convened a panel of representatives from the library to study ways to facilitate laptop use.

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) decided to implement some of the panel's suggestions in Lamont, partly because recent renovations made installing the network jacks easier. The jacks are currently only available in the third floor reading room.

"Lamont was the right place at the right time," said John B. Howard, librarian for information technology and a panel member.

"Whenever we do renovation projects now we must think about end-user connectivity," he said. "We kept this in mind during the Lamont renovation."

The trend towards wireless computing has gathered momentum in recent years within universities.

The panel studied similar programs at the University of North Carolina and the California Institute of Technology, which, according to Howard, "have been very successful and popular among the students."

Howard and Kriebel said they hope that the program will catch on at Harvard as well.