<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)">
<style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:#0563C1;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:#954F72;
text-decoration:underline;}
p
{mso-style-priority:99;
mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0in;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0in;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:windowtext;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]-->
</head>
<body lang="EN-US" link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72">
<div class="WordSection1">
<p class="MsoNormal">I mentioned this KUOW (Seattle NPR affiliate) story on Thursday’s call last week.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Highlights the increased need and provisioning of laptops to students at Everett Community College and elsewhere in higher ed.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://www.kuow.org/stories/need-a-laptop-colleges-boost-loaner-programs-amid-pandemic">https://www.kuow.org/stories/need-a-laptop-colleges-boost-loaner-programs-amid-pandemic</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I don’t see a link to the original audio, but I assume the text is a straight transcript. (I assume that ‘rentals’ in the pull quote below really means ‘loans’.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;background:white"><i><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#494C59">"A lot of people still felt laptops were a luxury as opposed to a must-have," says Tim Rager, who leads the Information Technology
department at Everett Community College. "Now we're realizing it's really a must have."<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box;margin:7.69916vw;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<i><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#494C59">The northwest Washington community college, like many schools, had long had a laptop loaner program, where students could check out a computer for a few hours, like a library book.
They had about 50 devices on hand.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box;margin:7.69916vw;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<i><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#494C59">But when classes went virtual, they switched from short-term rentals to longer-term rentals. And they were inundated with requests.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;background:white;box-sizing: border-box;margin:7.69916vw;font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
<i><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#494C59">"So all of a sudden, 'OK, wait! We've got to expand this,' " remembers Rager. Fifty laptops was not enough. So he and his team purchased 400 more. Rager thought that was enough.
He was wrong. "That initial four hundred were just gone. They were just gobbled up."
<b>So they ordered another 700.</b><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wade Guidry<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">WACTCLC<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Library Consortium Services Manager<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="mailto:wadeg@bigbend.edu"><span style="color:windowtext">wadeg@bigbend.edu</span></a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.wactclc.org/"><span style="color:windowtext">http://www.wactclc.org</span></a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">509.760.4474<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background:white">Pronouns: he/him/his</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>