The Henry Madden Library offers students with an opportunity to rent out Flip Video cameras. The Flip Video has been available since Feb. 7, 2011, and students can rent them up to seven days at a time.

Currently, only five Flip Video cameras are available for students to check out.

The Flip Video cameras are in high-definition quality — as is standard with these cameras. This particular model known as the “Ultra” runs for one hour of record time, other models can record up to two hours.

Christine Evans, head of the Circulation Services in the library, is in charge of the department that provides these cameras for students.

“They are constantly being checked out by students,” Evans said. “As soon as one is returned, it is checked out again.”

Yave Chavez works at Best Buy in Clovis as a business technology specialist. He said he sells these video cameras at work on a regular basis.

“They came out in 2006, but have just recently started to become popular,” Chavez said. “A lot of students enjoy them for classes because they are small, hand-held and nice for on the go. Everything is switching to compact and digital these days, and it is not a surprise how popular they are.”

Business marketing major Scott Brown found out about the Flip Video cameras available in the library recently and decided to try one out for fun.

“I just wanted to see what it was like since I always saw commercials on television for the camera,” Brown said. “All I did was plug in to my laptop after recording something and it installed the program for me.”

In case any students forget to delete the videos that they have recorded, every Flip Video camera is erased before it is checked out to the next student.

“Customers have been satisfied with them overall and they are a great video camera,” Chavez said. “They are a great device for students because of the high-definition quality and price.”

Fortunately the students at Fresno State do not need to purchase these video cameras to enjoy the quality they provide.

“Hopefully, we will get more available if it is possible in the future,” Evans said.

Flip Video cameras are available to Fresno State students for free through the Circulation Desk at the library.

“I was shocked by how simple it was to use,” Brown said. “Anybody could use it.”