[LIBRARYDIR] KUOW (NPR Seattle affiliate) radio story from last week - Need A Laptop? Colleges Boost Loaner Programs Amid Pandemic

[Bem, Greg]

Really impressive, Lynn. Having owned a netbook in the past, I found it very difficult to do much more than Word and some web browsing. We had a few dozen at LWTech but got rid of them a few years ago because with Windows updates they ran really, really slow.

Have surveys indicated current netbooks are able to meet student needs?

Greg Bem, MLIS
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From: LIBRARYDIR <librarydir-bounces at lists.ctc.edu> On Behalf Of Lynn Deeken via LIBRARYDIR
Sent: Monday, August 17, 2020 10:17 AM
To: WACTC Library Directors <librarydir at lists.ctc.edu>
Cc: Lynn Deeken <ldeeken at everettcc.edu>
Subject: Re: [LIBRARYDIR] KUOW (NPR Seattle affiliate) radio story from last week - Need A Laptop? Colleges Boost Loaner Programs Amid Pandemic

In the past EvCC has had a few hundred netbooks (and I don't think we had even 50 available at that point in Winter quarter - they are always 100% out) that were rentals ($20 a quarter).  Since we've been online it's been a free loan.

We now have about 1000 Chromebooks, our existing 200ish netbooks (many of which are too old) and we're looking at buying more netbooks.  Chromebooks don't meet all needs in our experience.  I think we have about 200 hotspots.

Lynn

On Mon, Aug 17, 2020 at 9:20 AM Guidry, Wade via LIBRARYDIR <librarydir at lists.ctc.edu<mailto:librarydir at lists.ctc.edu>> wrote:
Just an general interest post…

I mentioned this KUOW (Seattle NPR affiliate) story on Thursday’s Alma / Primo call last week.

The story highlights the increased need and provisioning of laptops to students at Everett Community College and elsewhere in higher ed.

(700 new laptops is a lot of inventory! And not a minor investment)

Full Text:
https://www.kuow.org/stories/need-a-laptop-colleges-boost-loaner-programs-amid-pandemic

Full Audio:
https://www.npr.org/2020/08/13/902073742/some-colleges-offering-free-laptops-for-students-as-courses-go-virtual


I assume that ‘rentals’ in the pull quote below really means ‘loans’.

"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."

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.

But when classes went virtual, they switched from short-term rentals to longer-term rentals. And they were inundated with requests.

"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." So they ordered another 700.


Wade Guidry
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