Kindle used as part of Somerset College's e-reader trial

E-readers, such as Kindles, are being used by schools and colleges

Students in Somerset are swapping text books for electronic devices as part of a new technology trial.

Somerset College in Taunton is thought to be one of the first educational organisations to provide download books on small handheld e-readers.

Thousands of titles can be stored on these devices. The college has four readers each containing over 100 books.

Research and Library Services manager Jolanta Peters said the college was trying to suit everyone's needs.

"We are rolling out all sorts of new technology," she said.

Student Laura Kent said she liked it as "it stores so many books, you can change the size of the text and it was small enough to fit in a handbag".

The BBC's technology correspondent, Rory Cellan-Jones, said he had used a few different types of mobile reading devices.

"It is a different reading experience. I found it most useful if I want to read a huge chunky novel while on holiday. It's an awful lot easier to read it on one of these."

He said some of the downsides to e-readers include the fact that you cannot lend books to family or friends and you also can't scribble on the margins or underline sentences.

Mr Cellan-Jones added these types of e-readers are becoming popular with educational publishers who often only publish reference books online rather than as a physical book.