Amazon encourage multiple purchase of their Kindles for use in education, however at present this does not extend to multiple use of digital content bought from the Kindle store. The digital content may be downloaded for personal use only which would not include the loan of individual items to multiple users. Our FAQ on Copyright issues in lending Kindles for more detail on this.
There is material which it may be possible to use and lend freely such as:
· Out of copyright material. However the current Kindle terms and conditions of use apply to all material acquired via the Kindle store whether out of copyright or not but it might be worth seeking consent, as often the out of copyright material is provided at no cost. Similarly check other content provider terms and conditions prior to download. Project Gutenberg for example has a liberal licence for use of its e-books although not all of their material is out of copyright in the UK http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page
· If the copyright in the material is owned by the college or university, it may be uploaded and used freely on their Kindles.
· Material where you have obtained the permission (usually via a licence) from the rights holder. Check your current e-book permissions to see whether they extend to portable e-reader use.